The Promised Land

 

A perfect winter’s day. The sun is as strong as it gets in January, beaming out of a blue sky sprinkled with a few wispy white clouds. Ice makes the road treacherous, but maybe it’s that frigidity at ground level that causes a mist to rise low and, earlier, thick. I couldn’t see through the mist, but beyond it, rising above it, stood the familiar hills to our south, Scolty, Clachnaben and others.

Sometimes, life lands us in a thick mist through which we cannot see, but we can still glimpse the promise of what lies beyond. We can focus on what we can see beyond. As I took a careful, short morning walk, though, that mist thickened, obscuring the hills beyond. Sometimes, life’s fogs curtain everything off, and it’s our faith which keeps us putting one foot in front of the other. Our faith, and the reassurance that we are not walking alone, but have our divine companion, Jesus, always with us.

Now, an hour later, the mist is thinning and I can see landscape of fields and trees leading up to those hills. It is a relief and a joy when life’s fogs thin and disappear and we can, once again, walk with confidence as we see exactly where we are going.

However thick the mist you are navigating today, may your inner eye focus on the promise of the Kingdom. The road may be rough and you may feel you are driving blind, but God guides your every step when you surrender the controls to him.

Martin Luther King day. A day when a man of God, a man of courage and colour, who led his nation towards the promised land, is honoured. I read this morning of the extraordinariness of his life, and how, the day before he was shot and killed, he said these words in a speech: ‘I’ve been to the mountaintop. And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life. Longevity has its place. But I’m not concerned about that now. I just want to do God’s will. And he’s allowed me to go up to the mountain. And I’ve looked over. And I’ve seen the Promised Land. I may not get there with you. But I want you to know tonight that we, as a people, will get to the Promised Land. So I’m happy, tonight. I’m not worried about anything. I’m not fearing any man. Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.’

May we all walk through the mist, as courageous and confident as this inspirational leader was. May we walk with integrity and faith knowing God leads us to the Promised Land.