Seeing as He does

Many years ago, Dunkin’ Donuts made us chuckle with an advertisement that featured Fred, the baker, headed out the door early in the morning to get the coffee and donuts ready for their customers. The tag line was “Time to make the donuts.”   It turned into a way to say, “It’s time to do that same thing I did yesterday!”   Do you ever feel like  you’re just slogging through the 'stuff' of life, eyes to the ground, trying to make a buck? Does the grind get you down, make you feel that life is meaningless?  Have whatever dreams you once had become mirages, shimmering on the horizon, unreal yet beckoning?

The answer to the emptiness is not diversion, not necessarily change (though it could be), and certainly not just giving up!  We need “vision!”  A real vision gives 'big picture context' to the work of the day.

On Tuesday I start to think about the following Sunday sermon. On Friday my primary task is to take the notes, thoughts, and readings and shape them into a manuscript.  From that I will deliver a sermon to the congregation on Sunday morning.   Preaching, a primary and visible part of my pastoral responsibilities, can be seen as just 'filling 30 minutes with words because that's what is expected of me.'   With that perspective my effort is an exercise in futility. If I take those 30 minutes as a privilege given to me to help people know God better as I point them to eternal wisdom, the effort is filled with passion.  Even with 'vision' the work is hard, but it is also purposeful.

Sometimes we plant trees and sometimes we plant flowers.  Tree planters need real  vision! That little sapling that a person plants in the back yard, won't be a shade tree to sit under for many years.  But, our grandchildren will still enjoy that oak we put in the yard. Setting out marigolds does not require much vision at all.  The tiny sprigs will grow quickly, in a matter of weeks, into flowering gardens.  But, they will die in a matter of months, too!

Our God calls us to active pursuit of the good He has purposed to do through us -- patiently and persistently.  James says, "Wait patiently for the Master's Arrival. You see farmers do this all the time, waiting for their valuable crops to mature, patiently letting the rain do its slow but sure work. Be patient like that. Stay steady and strong. The Master could arrive at any time." (James 5:7-8, The Message)  

If you’re starting your day feeling like it’s just “time to make the donuts,”  you need to step away, take a break and pray for renewal.  This is one reason God gave us the gift of Sabbath, one day in seven focused on Him.  Rest and worship are keys to maintaining the right vision for our lives.  Remind yourself why you started down the road.  Pray that God will set this day into the context of the larger picture of life for you, then - push ahead, steadily.  It is true that life can become routine even for visionaries, but with vision, we know why we do what we do.   Andy Stanley writes, "The daily grind of life is hard on visions. Life is now. Bills are now. Crisis is now. Vision is later. It is easy, therefore, to lose sight of the main thing, to sacrifice the best for the good. All of us run the risk of allowing secondary issues to rob us of the joy of seeing our visions come to completion. Distractions slowly kill the vision."  (Visioneering, Multnomah, 1999)

Jesus saw an opportunity that God prepared for Him at Jacob’s well in Samaria. A woman came to know her Heavenly Father that day.  His disciples were puzzled by His efforts with people they saw only as worthless, beyond hope.  The Lord challenged them to see as He does.  May His words give us vision, too.

 “My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work.
Do you not say, ‘Four months more and then the harvest’?
I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.
Even now the reaper draws his wages, even now he harvests the crop for eternal life,
so that the sower and the reaper may be glad together." (John 4:33-36, NIV)

____________________

Be Thou my vision,

O Lord of my heart.

Naught be all else to me

Save that Thou art.

Thou my best thought,

By day or by night.

Waking or sleeping

Thy presence my light.

Be Thou my wisdom,

Be Thou my true Word.

I ever with Thee

And Thou with me Lord.

Thou my great Father,

I Thy true son,

Thou in me dwelling

And I with Thee one.

High King of heaven

When vict'ry is won.

May I reach heaven's joys

O bright heaven's Sun.

Heart of my own heart,

Whatever befall,

Still be my vision

O Ruler of all!

Eleanor Henrietta Hull | Mary Elizabeth Byrne

© Words: Public Domain