Flying past the obvious

I have been discovering that miracles happen all of the time and that sometimes we are so busy looking for the big bang that we miss the subtle joys. Or we miss what is right in front of us. my friend Reverend Joseph Darby explains it beautifully.


Originally posted on June 18, 2014


From the Presiding Elder’s Desk

The Beaufort District of the South Carolina Annual Conference

of the Seventh Episcopal District of the African Methodist Episcopal Church

~ MID-WEEK MEDITATION ~

Based on 2Kings 6:8-17

Cas Cornelissen

One of the best jokes I heard on the radio in the days of my youth was told by the immortal Jackie “Moms” Mabley. In that joke, a construction supervisor suspects that one of his laborers is stealing from the work site. One day, when the laborer is leaving the site, the supervisor stops him, looks smugly into the wheelbarrow he’s pushing and finds.......absolutely nothing. Day after day, he does the same thing with the same result.

After more than a few days of futility, the exasperated supervisor tells the laborer, “Look, I know you’re stealing. I don’t know exactly what you’re stealing, but if you tell me, I promise I won’t fire you, I’ve just GOT to know!” The laborer pauses and says, “You really want to know what I’m stealing?” When the supervisor says again that he does badly want to know, the laborer says, “Wheelbarrows.”

I love that joke because the supervisor was so obsessed with what was going on and with apprehending the culprit that he overlooked the obvious. Remember the hapless supervisor in that joke in this world, where all of us are sometimes consumed by the relentless need to search and discover.

It’s easy for all of us to be consumed by the search for prosperity, peace of mind, wellness and well being, for safety, security, balance and belonging - only to come up short and be left feeling uncertain, unfulfilled and disconsolate. We’ll do well to pause, “exhale” and simply consider God’s obvious blessings that we often overlook.

When we do so, then we might just find that God has been with us in our times of stress and challenge, that God has steadied us when we were sure that we’d fall, that God has met our needs in ways that we might have missed and that God has stood with us in what we thought were our most solitary, troubled and hopeless times.

Take the time, in the midst of your search for the best in life, to not overlook the obvious and to consider your blessings. You’ll see new hope, realize new joy and be encouraged by the words of the writer who said, “All that you need God will provide, God will take care of you. Nothing you need will be denied, God will take care of you.”

This Meditation is also available on the Beaufort District’s Website

and

www.facebook.com/BeaufortDistrictAMEC

 

Are you looking for beauty yet missed the fragrant flowers that have somehow pushed through the crack in the sidewalk? I challenge you to look around you. What can you see that you did not see earlier?