The More Excellent Way

There is a scripture in I Corinthians 13:12 that begins by saying, “For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then…”  This portion accurately defines where I have been over the last few months and also points to where I am beginning to go in the future.  When we made the dramatic decision to make some changes in our lives last June, I did not have a clear vision but a “dim” view of where we were to go.  I just knew that it was time to go!

As I look back now I can clearly see the Lord’s wisdom in the need to make a clean break from some of the major activities and responsibilities that we were involved with.  It is kind of like that saying “You can’t see the forest for the trees!”  I had become so involved in what I was doing that I had lost focus on the greater call and plan of God for our lives. 

Over the years I have had a problem in letting go of things.  Whether it be a particular job I had, a course of action that I was following, or in just stopping and changing direction when things were obviously going down the tubes!  I am not a quitter and I always strive to successfully complete everything that I set out to accomplish.  But in a few incidents it has been to my detriment and/or of those close to me to whom I care for.  Does this sound familiar to any of you?

In the months preceding our changes, I had felt a definite stirring inside of me.  As time went on I began to feel an emptiness when I would complete my weekly responsibilities.  It was something that I had never felt in the midst of doing and being in the presence of the things that I have always enjoyed most in life.  I have come to see that many things today are totally different and new to what I have experienced in the past.  I think that is why it took me so long to let go.  On the positive side though, I do believe that it was still within the parameters of the Lord’s perfect timing.

Over the last three months I have been like the one who has been looking at his image in a smudged mirror and seeing only a dim reflection.  Recently it is as though someone has come by with a clean cloth and a bottle of Windex and has begun to clean the mirror!  Since I removed myself completely away from a church position in ministry and from some other responsibilities, I have started to gain a clearer view of the many lessons that the Lord has been trying to get across to me.  It is as if a helicopter dropped a harness to me and pulled me up and over the trees so that I could get a look at the entire forest!

It reminds me of our hikes around the Plumas National Forest in northeastern California.  I have always been enthralled with the sights and sounds of the forest as we hiked between the trees.  The animals, the birds, the flowers and other vegetation, the gorgeous quaking aspens, the brush, the ice cold mountain streams, the towering pine trees and then the deep blue sky that peeks through the canopy of tree tops.  But there is nothing like reaching the end of a mountain trail and standing in awe as the panoramic view of the entire forest as it stretches for miles in every direction.  There is one trail that we have enjoyed on many occasions where you can count up to seven different Forest Service fire lookout towers as you look in the spectacular distance in a 360 degree view as well as a sighting into the neighboring state of Nevada.

Now that I am looking out over the view of my life, it is becoming especially apparent that the Lord has been teaching me a lesson on His Love.  For the last few weeks, every time I have opened my Bible, read a book or attended a service, the subject has been centered around… you guessed it… God’s love!  Yesterday the Pastor began by sharing from I Corinthians 12:31 saying “And yet I show you a more excellent way.”  (NKJV)  That more excellent way is the way of God’s love that the Apostle Paul extolled in what has come to be known as the love chapter as found in I Corinthians 13.

I want to spend a little time examining some of the lessons about His love that I have been learning lately with you in this blog.  But for today, I will leave you with something to think about concerning a statement that was made yesterday.  The Pastor said that “Love is the correct use of your emotions (and of your subsequent actions or reactions to them).”  Roll that thought around in your mind and see if it lines up with the way you do things.  I have to honestly say that it hasn’t always been my first response to some of the accusations and actions of others that I have experienced over the last three years!  There are some definite areas of my attitude toward others that I have to adjust.  How about you? 

Have a good day.  Stay in tune to His Word and keep asking yourself… “What am I expecting today?”