Photo by Zhuo Cheng you on Unsplash
I need reading glasses. I’m finally admitting it.
Presbyobia - to give it the correct name - comes to us all in time, as our eye muscles age and we can no longer manage the amazing and unconscious feat of switching back and forth from near to long vision.
So, for me, it’s now a choice of lifting the long-distance glasses off my face to peer at the smartphone or putting on a pair of reading glasses if I’ve got my contact lenses in. I can hear the wonderful world of varifocal contact lenses beckoning me to try them out!
This new world of ever-changing lenses, had me musing on the many lenses church administrators must look through. Seeing far ahead in our work is second nature. Every administrator plans for long-term room hires/ wedding bookings / church weekends away / building projects. There’s a long and varied list of things that require long-range vision, and we’re often seeing things at least 6- 12 months ahead of our congregation.
That said – hands up anyone who’s had to look at an immediate need in front of them this week? Many of us will be stepping in with last-minute service planning when rota gaps appeared last night, or when ‘'extra notices’ need to be slipped in with almost no notice at all?
Administrators operate with long distance and near focus on such a daily basis that we’re experts in it, using those ‘administrator muscles’ to switch our focus without even being aware of it.
But are we doing the same spiritually, and with as much ease l wonder?
Scripture is filled with God’s promise that He’s present and walking with us in whatever today brings and whatever we’re living through right now. It’s also full of encouragement and reassurance that He’s the God of our future. God asks us not to become anxious about tomorrow / next month/ next year because He’s already working there for our good because He loves us. He asks us to trust Him before we can see what He’s doing.
At times though, the immediate activity, pressure or anxiety of our world today means we can’t rest in His promises for our future. On occasion we need the equivalent of varifocal contact lenses – an intervention - to help us see clearly again when we realise that our trust in God has become blurry over time.
What could that intervention be for you? Maybe a coffee and chat with a Christian friend; prayer from your homegroup or local UCAN group; a Bible Reading Plan, book, or podcast from a favourite Christian pastor/ author, or time to sit and read Scripture and let God talk to you. Whatever it is that will help your sight and trust become clearer again, please put something in place rather than putting up with the blur.
We’re administrators AND children of a very loving heavenly Father who wants us to trust him, and clearly see his provision, presence, and power in our lives.
I pray you’ll increasingly be able to look ahead and trust confidently that He’s at work in your future, as well as seeing the effects of His loving presence in your immediate world today.
May your vision of Jesus become even clearer in this season.
For you,
Jules Morgan
UCAN Executive Director