A team of firefighters returned to a station house to find it was on fire! According to press reports, Firefighters in a Dallas, Texas suburb left some potatoes cooking on the stove when they responded to a fire in the city. The overcooked potatoes started a fire in the kitchen area of the station house. Firefighters from other stations had to be called in to assist in putting the fire out. Officials tried to put a positive spin on the event by reminding the public to not leave food cooking on the stove before stepping out.
The report reminded me of how easy it is for us to be busy putting out other peoples’ fires that we neglect the ones at home. Careers and commitments can become the primary focus of one’s life. Assuming everything is taking care of itself at home, we respond to every need outside of it. It’s a danger nearly everyone must guard against. Those that successfully balance their time and attention between family and career reap the rewards of being able to share their success with the ones they love. After all, what good is it if the whole world thinks you are indispensable, but your family barely knows you? People of faith are called to serve one another, but the circle of service begins with those closest and dearest to us. Like those firefighters in Dallas, we must remember the first fire that needs our attention is the one at home. Prospicience. That was the final word correctly spelled at the 2002 Scripps Howard National Spelling Bee championship by then seventh grader, Pratush Bradige. With a name like that, no wonder he was good at spelling! Even spell-check doesn’t recognize the word prospicience, which means “the act of looking forward”.
We all need to practice prospicience. Too often we find ourselves looking at the past a little too long. We can certainly benefit from an occasional glance over our shoulder, but our primary focus should be on what’s ahead. The proportion is well illustrated in your car. The windshield is way bigger than your rear-view mirror. Checking the mirror isn’t nearly as important as looking at the road in front of you. In life, your past can hold you back, whether you’ve had success or failure. Past failures can discourage you from trying again. Past successes can cause us to live on the memory of successes instead of using it to launch us into even greater success. You don’t have to be a great speller to practice prospicience. Everyone can do it. The apostle Paul said it like this: Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:12-14 Be a prospicient person by keeping your eyes focused on the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the author and finisher of our faith! [Hebrews 12:2] |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. Archives
May 2016
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