I Know BUT....................

I am amazed sometimes how easily I am distracted by "shiny things." I am driving down the street thinking about thinks that matter and then, without warning I see a "shiny thing." The term "shiny thing" I created as I watched a magpie in our back garden. It was attracted by a bit of shiny paper. Worthless yet able to distract this bird and cause it to fly into my garden.

My shiny thing yesterday was a black E Type Jaguar sitting in a show room in Roseburn in Edinburgh. A little voice said, "Wow David, this car was made for you!" It looked amazing and the price was a good £5,000 less than I thought it should be. Before I knew what was happening I was driving this car in my mind up the A9 and heading for the Highlands.

At that moment I had stopped behaving like the eternal being God had created and instead was more like the magpie spending my time lookin for worthless treasure. My frustration was how easily it had happened. Does that happen to you?

In recent years I had learnt that all the treasures here are going to rust and that the best investments will probably at some point cause us much grief. Imagine if we could grasp the eternal vision at all times down here. How would it effect our lives? Would we miss a holiday out and instead help fund an extension to an African orphanage? Would we worry less about pension planning and more about investing in the Kingdom thats eternal.

My biggest "shiny thing" has a big for sale sign on it. I purchased it some years ago. It was a dream to own an ocean going boat and to experience the freedom of the seas. I now feel more than a little embarrassed about it. Its so easy to lose focus on whats really important and to start behaving magpie like.

Jesus once told a story about a person so focused on this life he had forgot what matters. The person was busy counting their wealth and building bigger vats to keep it in when they died. Imagine how sad it would have been if my life was only about sailing the high seas. This small bit we call "life" here and now is a tiny part of eternality. Our focus should be on building up treasure but not on earth were it rusts.............

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help me to focus on what matters for ever. May my eyes be more like yours and less like the magpie. May your kingdom come in my life today.