Jesus said, “You’re tied down to the mundane; I’m in touch with what is beyond your horizons. You live in terms of what you see and touch. I’m living on other terms...” John 8:23 (The Message)
I had one of my most frustrating experiences when I first graduated from college and started teaching fourth grade. I knew what my students needed in order to maximize their learning, but I couldn’t seem to find the magic elixir that would convince my principal to get the materials I wanted. I could collect all the data and could present a compelling case for what I wanted, and he would smile and say, “We’ll think about it!”
It wasn’t until I became a director for an adult learning center that I understood that response. As a director, I had to think about everyone in the program – not just the teachers but the paras and the custodians and all the students. Suddenly, the picture grew beyond just one classroom! I had to make a silent apology to the principals with whom I had become so irritated.
If all we can see is the view outside our windows, we start thinking that’s all that exists. People who are housebound for a length of time develop a narrowing view of the world. If I don’t go outside to see other people, I start thinking that everyone has Cheerios for breakfast and takes a short nap afterwards.
Businesses can develop this same narrow-mindedness – especially those businesses that have been in the family for more than one generation. The original owner tries various ways to improve the product until he hits on a process that will deliver a quality product for a reasonable price. Unless the subsequent owners continue to test possibilities and to investigate other resources, the buying public will change, and the original product will become obsolete.
One of the problems that Jesus encountered were those Jews who had followed the rules for centuries. They knew the law forwards and backwards and followed it meticulously. The sad thing was that they didn’t think about all the ramifications of the law. I was in a Bible study class studying the Ten Commandments and it talked about the many ways those commandments could be broken. “Thou shalt not kill” involves a lot more than just stopping a beating heart. It’s possible to kill a spirit and wreak more havoc to a life than just killing the body.
Bad things happen to all of us, and we wonder what in heaven’s name we did to deserve it. Job 1:21 says a lot when we read, “The Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Blessed be the name of the Lord.” It’s hard to bless the name of the Lord when we’ve lost something dear to our hearts. We each have to find our own answers; but sometimes it helps to think that Jesus wouldn’t allow the disaster unless there was a greater blessing awaiting on the other side.
Becky Gillette is a former teacher, newspaper reporter, and preacher who seeks to take an original approach to life’s lessons. She is the author of “Jessie’s Corner: Something to Think About,” a collection of articles which she wrote for a weekly newspaper.
