Look and Reach

Today was back to work after four wonderful days off. It’s hard to go back to the dailyness of an 8-hour day after a luxurious time of sleeping in, eating when hungry, watching a little TV, and staying up as late as desired. I have discovered a little-known fact that there is a direct relationship between the number of days off and the difficulty in going back to work. The longer the vacation, the less I want it to end. You know what I mean—Mondays are a little challenging after two days off, but going back the day after Christmas break is far more formidable.

I should not murmur, because I have a wonderful job. My position is to help teens improve their lives by thinking about education beyond high school. We help them get prepared for what’s ahead by thinking about their future early and developing a larger perspective. Our motto is “Looking Forward, Reaching Higher.” Kids have no idea how fast those years will go and how soon they will be going into a new land.

I wonder if heaven looks down at us and finds that we look a lot like those kids. It would seem that God wants us to look ahead and prepare. Hebrews 11 says by faith Abraham, when called to go, obeyed and went, even though he did not know where he was going. His people were living by faith, saw the promises, and welcomed them from a distance. They were looking for a better country, a heavenly one. They were “Looking Forward, Reaching Higher.”

It takes some concerted effort to prepare for our spiritual future, both here and later. We have the scriptures and the Holy Spirit to lead us much like my job does with our teens, often with similar results and similar excuses like:
1) I’ve got plenty of time to think about that later;
2) I’m not good at memorizing or learning from a book;
3) I’d rather just enjoy myself right here, right now;
4) I don’t know why you keep bugging me about preparing for the future;
5) I’ll just wing it if some problem comes up.

We are often like the people Peter describes “In the last days scoffers will come, scoffing and following their own evil desires. They will say, Where is this 'coming' he promised? Ever since our fathers died, everything goes on as it has since the beginning of creation." We think life will just continue on as it is (just like high schoolers); but there will be a day also like high school when the time is up, robes are provided, books are opened, and evaluations made.

I’m sure of it! We should be “Looking Forward, Reaching Higher.”