It was a beautiful sight. Over the weekend, sparkling white powder had fallen from the sky, covering the landscape with new, unblemished freshness. An artist would have struggled to capture its beauty with the stroke of a brush.
Yet I could not gaze upon this incredible transformation for long. I needed to relocate the garbage cans to the end of our driveway for trash pickup. Bent over, I struggled to scoop the layers of crystal beads. This position made it hard to see where I was going and if I was shoveling a straight path. Often, I looked up to assess my progress. I was removing one scoop of snow after another. So why, when I turned and looked behind me at the path I had shoveled, was I veering to the right and then to the left?
The answer was simple. As I moved forward, my eyes were not on the goal. Instead, the task at hand and the beautiful snow distracted me, leading me to change direction. But quitting was not in my DNA. I persevered. I focused on my point of reference beyond the hindrances, pushed forward, and made the necessary corrections along the way. Finally, I reached my goal. It was a prize worth the effort.
Paul encouraged the Philippian Christians to move forward and then declared his unshakable determination to conquer his past hindrances (Philippians 3:13-14).
But a straight line to the goal is not how it happened for Paul. His life veered to the right and then to the left. He lived through a myriad of blunders and shortcomings. Yet he actively pursued the prize rather than dwell on his past failures. Single-mindedness, keeping the prize in sight, and laying aside all distractions that would keep him from following Jesus Christ resulted in success. The achievement included knowing Christ, learning to be like Him, and pursuing a life aligned with God’s purpose.
Now, that is a prize worth the effort. Make the effort as Paul did.
Karen is a writer.