Looking Ahead, Not Behind

Seven hundred twenty miles driven in twenty-     four hours, and I could not stop looking behind. While driving, you're encouraged to do that, but it got me thinking. I spend a lot of time looking around. Behind. Beside. Before. What is sneaking up from the rear? What will come over the next hill?

 What is casting that dark shadow beside me? 

What happens when I spend the majority of my time focused on these areas? I miss the present. I enjoy this moment less because I am not fully here. In my head, I am in the past or ahead of myself in the future.

I forget that God is with me now. I forget he has always been there and promises to always be right beside me.

He will show me how close I am to danger and how to avoid the wrong way - if I let him.

Let your eyes look straight ahead; fix your gaze directly before you. 

Give careful thought to the paths for your feet and be steadfast in all your ways. Do not turn to the right or the left; keep your foot from evil. (Proverbs 4:25-27 NIV)

Lord, help my eyes to see you beside me and not to focus on what is all around me. Thank you for showing me the way I should go. Amen.

Living in the Present
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xqz1477S5L0

Never Alone

Loneliness is no respecter of age. It weaves through the seniors' rooms where I work. My heart aches for them, and I spend as much time talking and joking with them as one person can. 

But driving home Christmas night I got angry - with God.

"How can lives that were once so full seem so empty? 
Why do you allow this solitude? 
Where are you?"

 He spoke to me in a song. 
(Which he does more often than anyone would believe.)

We cannot separate
You're part of me
Though you're invisible
I'll trust the unseen 

I cry out with no reply
I can't feel you by my side
So I'll hold tight to what I know
You're here, and I'm never alone

It was obvious, but I had missed it. Those who trust in him have been given the gift that conquers loneliness: oneness with Christ. The baby born in a stable grew to be a man who cannot be separated from those who love him.  

Christ in you, the hope of glory. 

Our God gives you everything you need. 

My perception of being alone is in essence, wrong. It is a lie whispered by the prince of darkness himself. I can feel alone. I can observe that others seem to be alone. In reality, this is an impossibility for believers.

So, as the song suggests, I cling with all my might to the unseen.

I am never alone.

Those who are truly alone have decided to walk down the path of life solo. And I must continue to reach out a hand and offer a better way.

Christ in me, thanks for bringing me around to truth. I love how you remind me often of your presense with glimpses of your glory. Help others to realize the magnitude of this gift you have given us. Guide me as your light in a dark and lonely world. Amen. 

"Never Alone" - Barlow Girl
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PlaV4z8QqSE

*Col. 1:27 NIV, 1 Thess. 1:2 MSG