Our basketball gym in high school had a balcony at one end behind the basket. From there you could look down and see the whole court.
During practice the coach would diagram a new play and explain the pattern each player was to run to create the shot. Needless to say we would get lost in all the switches and picks. One player, losing their part of the play, would mess up everybody else. “Again!! Run it again!”, coach would yell.
Blowing it for about the third time the coach would yell, “Horan get up there. Get the big picture.” These were orders to climb up to the balcony and look down on the court. You could see the whole play and what part each player was to accomplish. Coming back down you kept the image of what you’d just seen and the play finally made sense!
It makes you wish we had a place we could go to get the big picture for our life. But you and I know it doesn’t work that way. There are all kinds of things that happen that “change the play”. Things like: 70 mph winds that knock your power out for three days, you throw your back out and can’t lift your baby, the company is over budget and your job has to go, getting out of debt seems impossible, the relatives are driving us crazy. Etc.
Life can be a bumpy ride. Is there anything that doesn’t move and change? Something that re- mains constant in times of trouble? Is there a North Star that beckons to me and tells me where I’m headed in my life?
There is of course, but it’s hidden among a bunch of counterfeit destinations. You know those. The perfect: job, house, car, neighborhood, school, wardrobe, friends, vacation etc. Or maybe it’s in finishing your life’s bucket list. (So you’ve climbed Mt. Kilamanjaro, been to the Masters, and seen the pyramids . . . . now what?).
Friends, we’re not the first people to ask that question. The rich young man in the Gospel (Mt. 19:16-25) asked the same question . . . “What must I do to get where I’m supposed to be?”. Jesus’ answer was simple, “keep the commandments”. If we need further explanation . . . “love God with all your heart and love your neighbor as you love yourself.”
And where does that get us? The Kingdom of God. The rest is all filler; what we do while we’re loving God and neighbor.
It’s not that complicated – – – if you get the “Big Picture”.
Our home is with God. Let’s start today to claim it with the way we live.
Bless your Lenten days.
Fr. Tim
