Once a friend asked me how I was. I replied that I’d been having a bit of trouble lately seeing the forest for the trees. I’m a person who, every now and again, has to get up above the trees to see the forest – to get above the individual incidents or the worries or the annoyances or whatever and see the whole picture of where God is at and where God is leading.
Once I was at a meeting where we were talking about the “win” for our ministry. Some of us were looking at the big picture to see what God is doing. Every so often I need to reorient my life, even just a little, toward bigger pictures of goals for myself, our family, child rearing, etc. after long stretches of being very focused on each “tree” in life.
Jesus was always surrounded by “trees” – people who came for healing, people who he was teaching, people coming to taunt and harass him. But he always had the “forest” in mind. He always knew his mission, his Big Hairy Audacious Goal, his big picture. Why? I think it’s because he went away from the trees to reconnect with the Source of his forest – the Father.
Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed. (Mark 1:35 NIV)
After He had sent the crowds away, He went up on the mountain by Himself to pray; and when it was evening, He was there alone. (Matthew 14:23 NIV)
But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray. (Luke 5:16 NASB)
May we always see God’s Big Picture, know the difference between “trees” and the “forest” of our life, and have self discipline and courage to go apart and seek the Father for our perspective. May God bless us with what we need to see, to know, to understand so that we can participate in the plans he has for us and for our Kingdom work. And may God the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be honored by our lives. Amen.
(adapted from post originally published May 21, 2022)