Lifetime Daily DevotionsSample

Looking Beyond The "Pot-hole"

I'm strictly an "around the block" bicycler. I keep telling myself that I'm going to practice "go around the block" a lot and then head for a New England bike tour. I need to quit procrastinating and do what I've told myself to do. The block gets bigger and bigger! I remember one time when the family was all riding together, and I was trying not to be the lag behind; I was doing my very best keeping up and dodging the rough places in the road. Wade, ever perceptive, came up beside me and said, "Mom, where do you look when you dodge those pot-holes?" Silly! I look down at the hole so I won't hit it! "Let me give you a tip." (He was a man's biker so his tips were well received.) "See the hole coming and look beyond that hole to where you want to go. You'll find it works a lot better." I tried it. He was so right! I incorporated that tip successfully into my around-the- block adventures.

It was interesting this morning as I was cutting slowly along a penciled line. I realized that the best way to follow a line with the scissors is to look where you're going--not where you are. The line won't have these jagged edges where you veered from the mark. It works a lot better.

Now, surely there is a spiritual application here, Lord. Could it be Paul's statement? "Forgetting what lies behind and reaching forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus." (Phil. 3:13-14). You know, when I'm cycling, if I'm looking down at the hole so I won't hit it smack in the middle, I have to swerve to miss it and I come pretty close to losing control of my two-wheeled machine. But I know that there are eventually going to be rough places and if I keep my eyes on the road ahead, I just have to veer slightly and I'm still steady on my route.

So there are some pretty serious "pot-holes" in my life just now. I can focus on the "hole" and get pretty disoriented. But if I "fix my eyes on Jesus" I'm going to pass that hole in my road, keep my stability, and not veer from my set goal. That sounds so good. And if I "go around the block" enough with that in mind, I'll be ready for that New England tour (Heb. 5:14).