'EYES DOWN' - 'Noses to the grindstone' - 'Not seeing the wood for the trees.'
For so many of us, life is just so busy these days that there never seems to be enough time to stop and look round and see the big picture or ask the big questions about life and meaning and purpose - what it‘s all about.
It‘s always the next task, the next step, the next meal that demands our attention as we hurtle through life. There‘s no time for reviewing the past, getting things into perspective or thinking about the future beyond the short or medium term. And yet we owe it to ourselves to find that time and ask those questions and at least begin to look for some answers.
As the year rushes on towards Easter, perhaps we can pause and take our eyes off the road immediately in front of us and look up and find ourselves standing at the foot of a cross. Here a man is crucified who carries on his shoulders all the troubles and the burdens and the failings of the world. In his eyes we see the pain and the questioning.
We look again and the cross is bare. The people around say that he died under the weight of so much sorrow. Our gaze falls to the ground.
But the people say that if we would see him again, we should not look down, but up, above the horizon. For Jesus is raised from the dead - and lives to bring us hope and meaning and purpose. If we focus our lives on him, then we will find that everything can fall into perspective. We‘ll still be busy - perhaps even busier. But at least we‘ll know where we‘re headed.
John-David Yule