A good friend of mine was on the radio several months ago. She picked her top five Christian songs and shared them on a Christian radio station in Colorado, where she lives. Her number one song was a song called To Bring You Back by Paul Alan. Before then I'd never even heard of the artist, Paul Alan, much less the song. But I really liked the song from the first listening, so I bought it on iTunes. And lately, I've been listening to it a lot. It's basically a modern musical version of the parable of the lost sheep in Luke 15. The chorus goes,
I left the ninety-nine to find the one
and you're the one
I walked a thousand miles in the desert sun
Only to bring you back
The song made me think a lot more about the parable. Imagine for just a moment that you're a shepherd a couple thousand years ago, and you own a hundred sheep. In order to feed all of these sheep, you have to travel to a spot with enough grazing land that a hundred sheep can feed all day and not run out of grass. So you travel for several days until you reach a spot where your sheep can graze. It's a hard journey, because you only have a pair of sandals with thinning soles on your feet, and the ground is hard and rocky. The sun beats down on your head mercilessly as you travel, and as you sit there letting your sheep eat. Finally, it's time to take your herd back home for the winter. Maybe you'll sell some and sacrifice the most perfect one to the Lord. You're only a few hours from home, dirty, sweaty, tired, with bruised and battered feet, when you realize that you're missing one sheep. And this isn't just any sheep. No, this is the stubborn and ornery sheep that is constantly straying from the flock and forcing you to waste long hours searching for her. I know I wouldn't have to think long before making the decision to forget about her. After all, you have ninety-nine others! And the one sheep that you've lost is a constant irritation to you.
But consider this. Jesus didn't do that. All of us were at one time that sheep constantly straying from the loving care of the shepherd. But Jesus Christ didn't leave us to die alone and forgotten. He left the ninety-nine to find the one - and we're the one. Would you walk a thousand miles in the desert sun only to bring back that one wandering sheep? That's what Christ did. For us.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
finding joy in the little things
I like to find joy in the little things. Everything in my life may not be just as I want it to be, but the sight of a perfect snowflake or the sound of a baby's laugh can make my day.
Most people miss the beautiful things in life because they're going too fast. I once heard someone say, "Make the most of the little things, because when you come to the end of your life you'll find that they weren't so little after all." I think that's so true. When you're on your deathbed, will you think about those things that today are so important to you? Impressing your boss, getting a raise or a promotion, winning an award, doing well on a test...when you look back over your life, are these the things you'll remember? Will you consider these things the most rewarding things you've ever done? I tend to think that the little things will be what will matter most to you in that moment. The half hour you took off from your studies to go get ice cream with your best friend, the way a child smiled up at you in admiration as you showed him how to catch a fish, an impulsive hug from a younger sibling after you helped them with a difficult math problem, or the way you laughed with a friend for five minutes straight over an inside joke you had will be what's most likely to stand out in your mind in your last moments on this earth. These things are seemingly insignificant, but they stand out as eternally rewarding when you take a look at the grand scheme of things.
There are so many beautiful things in life if you only look for them. Most people pass by the details, the smaller things in life in order to get to the things that may be larger, but are somehow not as satisfying to the beauty-loving soul. The night sky seen through a canopy of leaves, a baby's tiny fingers, the heady scent of honeysuckle on a hot summer day that seems to fill the air with its intoxicating fragrance, a loved one's hand in yours, the taste of ice cold water after running for a long time, the way rays of sunlight seem to filter down softly through tree branches on a quiet spring day, the flickering light of a campfire, a pond so calm that you can see your reflection in it like glass - all these things are ones that give me joy. Sometimes, the beauty of life is shown in the way the little things continue to give us glimpses of heaven, even when life is bad.
Most people miss the beautiful things in life because they're going too fast. I once heard someone say, "Make the most of the little things, because when you come to the end of your life you'll find that they weren't so little after all." I think that's so true. When you're on your deathbed, will you think about those things that today are so important to you? Impressing your boss, getting a raise or a promotion, winning an award, doing well on a test...when you look back over your life, are these the things you'll remember? Will you consider these things the most rewarding things you've ever done? I tend to think that the little things will be what will matter most to you in that moment. The half hour you took off from your studies to go get ice cream with your best friend, the way a child smiled up at you in admiration as you showed him how to catch a fish, an impulsive hug from a younger sibling after you helped them with a difficult math problem, or the way you laughed with a friend for five minutes straight over an inside joke you had will be what's most likely to stand out in your mind in your last moments on this earth. These things are seemingly insignificant, but they stand out as eternally rewarding when you take a look at the grand scheme of things.
There are so many beautiful things in life if you only look for them. Most people pass by the details, the smaller things in life in order to get to the things that may be larger, but are somehow not as satisfying to the beauty-loving soul. The night sky seen through a canopy of leaves, a baby's tiny fingers, the heady scent of honeysuckle on a hot summer day that seems to fill the air with its intoxicating fragrance, a loved one's hand in yours, the taste of ice cold water after running for a long time, the way rays of sunlight seem to filter down softly through tree branches on a quiet spring day, the flickering light of a campfire, a pond so calm that you can see your reflection in it like glass - all these things are ones that give me joy. Sometimes, the beauty of life is shown in the way the little things continue to give us glimpses of heaven, even when life is bad.
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