October 09, 2008

Spotlights

When my grandson was three years old he loved playing with a flashlight. Shining his light on books and toys his sparkling eyes said, ‘Look at this!’ Or in the dark pantry he’d search out the Spaghettios he wanted for lunch. Stuffing the flashlight up his shirt he’d giggle as the spot of light traveled across his chest. In a manner of speaking we adults also play with flashlights, however our tendency is to spotlight ourselves. We’ll shine a light on the work of our hands to impress others and ask leading questions to highlight our latest interest. Maybe we need to get in touch with our inner-child and remember to shine our light before men…not on men.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Gail;
-----If you might pardon me for a few moments, I would like to get a bit psychological. Our thoughts are the product of our time and attention. Life throws at us so many situations requiring attention focused profoundly upon details. The details being the norms, expectations, rules, and people of our lives (especially including ourselves), it is no wonder our thoughts and feelings are made up of people, expectations, and ambitions. So when a subject is sought for the shining of the spotlight beam, it is little wonder why ourselves, other people, or simply expectations and ambitions are hooked first.
-----Throw a baited hook into pool containing a thousand bass and fourteen trout, chances are, you pull out a bass. Although I consider this to be innocent sin, and forgiven, it yet needs to be washed away from our habit. Some washing certainly will await the meeting with our Lord. Some washing may be effected before. The Psalmist spoke of storing God’s Word in heart that he might not sin. In a simple sort of way, this effects the bass to trout equation. It takes time and attention to store God’s Word in the heart. It takes more time and attention to maintain it there accurately. So having increased time and attention to God’s Word, and time and attention being finite quantities, the number of trout to bass in the pool must also increase. Therefore, the chance of pulling out a trout with your next cast is also increased.
-----Then if you really want to increase the chance of pulling out a trout, use a good tie flier, or flier tier, or something like that. Learn to tie the fly that attracts the trout, not the bass. Then when you go fishing for a subject upon which to shine the light, it may be more Scripturally satisfying. Hmmm. Now that I mention it, I think I might try it!

Love,
Steve Corey