Vision

Some things you can't learn directly. Take humility for example. How do you "be humble"? The moment you realize that you have achieved humility is the moment you have lost it. Or patience. Have you ever tried to intentionally learn patience? Your first thought usually is "I need to learn this now." Even something as basic as love. Love is selflessness--it's kinda hard to love while focusing on your own ability to love.

Then there's emotions. I probably don't have to even say anything else here. I'm sure we've all experienced the lack of control we have over our emotions (if, on the other hand, you can't relate to this, you must tell me your secret). I'm not sad when I should be, I am sad when there's no reason to be. I get excited over the wrong things and don't get excited over the right things. And most of the time I don't feel very close to God.

It's a paradox--the more we focus on these things, the less control we find we have. It's like chasing a little kid through the supermarket. The more you chase after him, the more he runs away (and gets into all sorts of trouble).

And so we are told to surrender. Just give up. And we try. Oh, we try so hard. Only to be met by the same paradox. Like being told not to think about something, the harder we try to give it up, the tighter our grip becomes. Sometimes to the point of crushing the very thing we were trying to protect.

About a year ago, I was reading a book by Stephen Covey where he talked about how our lives our directed by where we place our focus. That it is all about perspective. Gain the right perspective and your life will line up--have the wrong perspective and things will fall apart (including the very thing you were focusing on).

I think Covey was on to something. Yeshua said, "The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness" (Matt. 6:22-23). Your eye or your focus is the lamp for the rest of your life. 

You see a similar idea in Judaism. According to their tradition, the difference between this world and the world to come is in the world to come we will see everything as it really is. We will see people as they really are. We will see our actions for what they really are and their full consequences. And that is what will cause us to obey. But right now we are asleep, walking about with blurred vision like a drunk stumbling in the dark.

Where do we need to shift our focus? What will shed light on the world around us? In short, I believe the answer is the Fear of God...but more about that in the next blog.

Return to "Days of Awe"