Principal's Message - Week 5, Term 2
Keeping an Eternal Perspective
One of the big lessons I have learnt through my years of leadership is how our strengths have associated weaknesses. Some areas of leadership theory call them 'shadows'. You might have an excellent memory, which can be very helpful, yet at the same time, it may make forgiving people hard because you can vividly remember the pain and hurt you felt from someone’s actions. Perhaps your strength is working at high capacity – inadvertently, it may be that others feel intimidated around you because they think you expect them to work at that same level.
I think, in some ways, similar issues can exist with blessings. We experience many blessings, but they, too, may elicit challenges or 'shadows'. We have the blessing of living in a free and democratic society, where we are all given the opportunity to decide who our elected government is. Evidence suggests that some of us are apathetic towards this blessing, and either put in donkey votes or don’t vote at all.
I feel I have many blessings in my life, far too many to list here, but I sometimes feel one of the associated challenges is ensuring I keep an eternal perspective. I have read many accounts of people who have experienced incredible hardship in their lives and are genuinely yearning for the return of Jesus. In my blessed and comfortable life, I am sometimes concerned that I am too caught up in the things of this world and not appropriately focused on eternity.
For much of his adult life, the Apostle Paul experienced great hardship. He writes in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “We fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." He clearly had the correct perspective, recognising that this world will indeed pass us all by.
Many of us will be aware of stories of ministry work occurring in prisons and how successful it can be. As challenging as the inmates’ circumstances are, perhaps it helps them to realise that they are in need of a saviour and there is more to life than what they are experiencing now.
I often like to say to our staff, I believe we deal with things of eternal significance every day. However we manage to lift our eyes to Christ, if the outcome helps us to realise that this life really is temporary (Ecclesiastes refers to it as a mist that is soon gone) and that we should be storing up treasures in heaven where moth and rust can’t destroy, (Matthew 6:20) then surely that’s a good thing.
God bless,