BEYOND THE CLOUDS

Why is it when things go sour in our lives our primary response is to look for really great sweetener? As humans I don’t I ask that question unaware that it is natural to want to avoid pain.

However as followers of the Lord who are waiting till Heaven is our inheritance, craving this life does seem a contradiction to our faith. However we all do it. We might not admit it on Sunday at church, but it would be hard to go through life merely content with misery and not want more while breath touches our lungs and lives.

Finding a balance in life between the needs of being and the awareness of the soul can be difficult. And it gets complicated of course by the fact that we are surrounded by other individuals of various views of reality who may or may not share our priorities.

So we times find ourselves seduced by our pride into making lateral comparisons with the plight of others. That isn’t God’s doing, just our ego and human nature rising to the surface and erupting like a volcano.

And that process seldom ends up bearing the kind of fruit that is profitable to our well-being or life of faith. After all, there is always somebody better off or worse off than we are. The best we can achieve by that process is to either end up deluded with our false sense of superiority or left feeling depressed because those we know are better.

To response by some houses of worship to this vice grip is to attempt to ease the pressure by offering up the sometimes vain or futile guarantee that there is a path to heaven that you can walk on this earth. That God will grant us everything we want out of life right now.

This becomes a narcotic for some. An obsession fueled by lust and greed rather than any love for the Lord. And it seldom ends in any refinement or growth of the soul even if the person ends up actually prospering in some way.

There is nothing wrong of course with having wants and needs. But they can be stumbling blocks to our real purpose when they become some kind of god in our lives.

To truly walk the path of faith is to have a mind’s eye that remembers the real horizon to which we are headed. That can enjoy this life for what it offers and yet never forgets what lies beyond the clouds.

It is perhaps in a way like treating this time when the heart pumps as being a residence like one uses on a vacation. One that is only temporary. Enjoy what it offers, savor the time, but don’t forget that we still have a home else where.

How easy it is to forget that priority. So some times we need those little “postcards” of inspiration written by the Holy Spirit to remind. Hopefully we take time to read them in between our race to find what we are seeking in this life.