Ooooooh, I like it, Jack. Evan would like it a lot too! I think that’s about how we all look if you zoom out and get an aerial of how we’re all so interconnected without sometimes realizing it. I’ve always wanted to know what our “energy” looks like from God’s perspective – in other words, exactly how closely we’re all “networked” in everyday life, even if we’re far away from each other, that we might be so oblivious of.
Thanks, Edee!
Your comment about zooming out reminded me of a speech I gave a couple of years ago on “Spiritual Fruit”.
Here is the END of it, but you can read or listen to the whole thing here if you are interested: https://jaxpublix.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/spiritual-fruit/
-=-=-=- I would like to close with one more thought. We have been looking at specific traits that are the signs of being spiritually connected, but now I want to zoom out to the bigger picture. Let’s zoom WAY OUT, and imagine that God is seeing the whole map laid out in front of Him. But He’s looking at the spiritual map of the world, not the physical map. And each one of you is the tiniest little dot, but it can be colored black or white, or by light and dark. And the times that you are connected properly, producing love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control? During those times your little dot just lights right up. If you could look at a map this way, with areas of lightness and darkness, you might be surprised how different it looks than the physical world.
For example, think about a big natural disaster like a hurricane or a Tsunami.
People are hurting, and dying. People losing everything and having to start over, lots of damage. Some people ask “How could a loving God allow this to happen?”
Well, I’m not trying to be flippant about the suffering, but the world just does what it does, and it’s chaotic sometimes. But I don’t think that’s what God is looking at.
For example, during a time like that, there might be looters. Tragic. Obviously those dots remain dark on the map. Even a simple thing like ME saying, “I have a loaf of bread, but I’m afraid to share it with you because I might need some tomorrow”. Well, the world has provided for me, and that’s okay, but I think my dot remains dark, at least at that moment.
But on the bigger picture, around a catastrophe like that, the edges may be positively GLOWING with light! People sharing, and caring. People helping people with First aid, relief flooding in from all around, people making sacrifices to help the needy. Providing comfort, reconnecting families. That area might be one of the brightest spots around!!!
On the other side of the coin, on a different part of the map, like some nice neighborhood in Colorado or Connecticut, they might look pretty attractive on the physical map, but they might actually be pretty dark on the other map.
So I just wanted to leave you with that mental picture.
The world might look scary and terrible sometimes, but if you look in the right way, you might be happy to discover glowing light all around the edges. I want to be one of those lights.
So, in closing, I just want to say, “I hope YOUR life brings forth much fruit!”
Thank you.
-=-=-=-
Ah, I just read that. That’s a neat perspective. I like imagining it and it may be quite accurate. Yes, I want to be one of those lights too, in all times.
Ooooooh, I like it, Jack. Evan would like it a lot too! I think that’s about how we all look if you zoom out and get an aerial of how we’re all so interconnected without sometimes realizing it. I’ve always wanted to know what our “energy” looks like from God’s perspective – in other words, exactly how closely we’re all “networked” in everyday life, even if we’re far away from each other, that we might be so oblivious of.
Thanks, Edee!
Your comment about zooming out reminded me of a speech I gave a couple of years ago on “Spiritual Fruit”.
Here is the END of it, but you can read or listen to the whole thing here if you are interested:
https://jaxpublix.wordpress.com/2017/09/10/spiritual-fruit/
-=-=-=-
I would like to close with one more thought. We have been looking at specific traits that are the signs of being spiritually connected, but now I want to zoom out to the bigger picture. Let’s zoom WAY OUT, and imagine that God is seeing the whole map laid out in front of Him. But He’s looking at the spiritual map of the world, not the physical map. And each one of you is the tiniest little dot, but it can be colored black or white, or by light and dark. And the times that you are connected properly, producing love and joy and peace and patience and kindness and goodness and faithfulness and gentleness and self-control? During those times your little dot just lights right up. If you could look at a map this way, with areas of lightness and darkness, you might be surprised how different it looks than the physical world.
For example, think about a big natural disaster like a hurricane or a Tsunami.
People are hurting, and dying. People losing everything and having to start over, lots of damage. Some people ask “How could a loving God allow this to happen?”
Well, I’m not trying to be flippant about the suffering, but the world just does what it does, and it’s chaotic sometimes. But I don’t think that’s what God is looking at.
For example, during a time like that, there might be looters. Tragic. Obviously those dots remain dark on the map. Even a simple thing like ME saying, “I have a loaf of bread, but I’m afraid to share it with you because I might need some tomorrow”. Well, the world has provided for me, and that’s okay, but I think my dot remains dark, at least at that moment.
But on the bigger picture, around a catastrophe like that, the edges may be positively GLOWING with light! People sharing, and caring. People helping people with First aid, relief flooding in from all around, people making sacrifices to help the needy. Providing comfort, reconnecting families. That area might be one of the brightest spots around!!!
On the other side of the coin, on a different part of the map, like some nice neighborhood in Colorado or Connecticut, they might look pretty attractive on the physical map, but they might actually be pretty dark on the other map.
So I just wanted to leave you with that mental picture.
The world might look scary and terrible sometimes, but if you look in the right way, you might be happy to discover glowing light all around the edges. I want to be one of those lights.
So, in closing, I just want to say, “I hope YOUR life brings forth much fruit!”
Thank you.
-=-=-=-
Ah, I just read that. That’s a neat perspective. I like imagining it and it may be quite accurate. Yes, I want to be one of those lights too, in all times.