From The Chaplain

For the gymnast, where you focus your attention can make all the difference, well, so I’m told. I am not the gymnast; I have never even been able to do a handstand, but I am told by good authority that, especially on the Balance Beam, to keep your head up and look to a point in the distance is key because as soon as you look down, your balance is compromised. Using this image, I encouraged our community to consider the year ahead and the things that are our focus: what we want to achieve and do, because the things we set our eyes and hopes on bring meaning to why we each do what we do. 

We all have goals, hopes and dreams, but we know that there are distractions and challenges, even good opportunities that can come our way and take our focus, maybe even stop us from completing our goal. How we deal with each of these things matters, and that can all depend on where we have set our vision, the purpose and meaning. So the question was, have we set our vision on something big enough to help us through the challenges and achieve the goals that we want to do?

This image of the gymnast also helps us understand what Paul, the writer of the second letter to the Corinthians, was talking about when he shared his joys and struggles with this Church community in Corinth. Paul’s work was to share the good news of Jesus, and while there were many joys, Paul also faced lots of opposition and sorrow. Lots of things could have distracted him from achieving his goals, that could have caused him to give up including being thrown in jail, and yet he kept going because ‘he didn’t look down’ he kept looking forward. Paul's vision was bigger than 5 to 10-year goals, for he kept his eyes on Jesus, which brought perspective, purpose and meaning, which helped him through even the toughest of times. He writes

“16 Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. 17 For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. 18 So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17, NIV)

Especially as we have just celebrated Easter, the invitation is for all of us to consider where and what we are looking to that brings meaning and purpose to the here and now. Where have we placed our trust and what is our hope. In Jesus, there is the opportunity to place our trust and hope in the one who has conquered death and offers life in all its fullness, now and for eternity. A vision to set our hearts and minds on, that brings light and hope even in the darkest of times.