9/22/2005 11:15:00 AM|||Laura|||The E-Sword daily devotional this morning by George H. Morrison is called The Blindness of Vision. One section that was particularly meaningful to me in light of Hurricane Katrina -
When We See the Larger Life, We Become Blind to Little Grievances
Putting the matter in another light, suppose we think of the little frets of life, of the little pinpricks and unkindness which most people experience as they journey. There are folk who brood upon such things as these, until they practically see nothing else. They tend and water all their little grievances till their blossoms would take prizes at a show. And what I have noticed of such folk is this, that when through the mercy of God their eyes are opened, of all these little pinpricks they see nothing Their eyes have been opened to what real suffering is. They were only playing before at being miserable. Their eyes have been opened to that larger life which is always given us in Christ. And the beautiful thing about that life is this, that worries which were overwhelming yesterday, somehow have vanished so that we cannot see them in the love commended on the cross. Every rock and ridge is clear and glistening in the Highland burn when it is low. But when the summer rain falls or the winter snow, then they become invisible. And I have found it so in many a man's life when a new tide of being has possessed him; things that were sharp and hard and hurt him yesterday, somehow have become invisible today.
I have minor damage to my home, totaling (in my estimation, since the adjuster has not been here yet) less than $15,000. Some exterior walls have to be re-sided, a patio cover and shed were destroyed - and all the contents - and fencing was destroyed. The roof seems okay. I've considered perspective before (The Total Perspective Vortex; I was re-reading The Hitchiker's Guide to the Galaxy at the time) and what God's perspective is compared to our own worm's eye view. One definition of "perspective" is the appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer.
The mercy of Hurricane Katrina is that we were able to see how frail and temporary things down here really are. Considering that life is eternal, the length of time we can expect to spend with these material things is so much shorter, compared to the length of our lives, that they are hardly worth mentioning. I have stubbed my toe hundreds of times in my life, but I can't remember the details of even one time. It's a reminder to build our house upon the rock, a reminder that to have our life we must lose it. Rita is drifting northward and I find I'm really not bothered by it. We'll evacuate, or not. Get hit, or not. Flood, or not. My God is sovereign and I am in His hands.|||112740709582060134|||Vision and Perspective