Daily Devotion - Tuesday, July 7

Where Are You Looking These Days?

“Never look down to test the ground
Before taking your next step:
Only he who keeps his eye fixed on the far horizon
Will find his right road.”
--Markings by Dag Hammarskjold
Former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Dag Hammarskjold was a person of incredible insight. His spiritual diary, Markings, is filled with some pretty remarkable statements, statements that demand some attention. Today’s quote is intended to remind us of a vision we need to claim.

These words seem helpful as I write my final patriotic reflection for the past July 4th holiday. During this past year many of us (probably all of us) have spent quite a bit of time looking down and testing the ground. One way of describing the world's post 9/11 lifestyle is that people are consumed looking for the land mines that might be hidden right in front of us!

Hammarskjold reminds us that “getting on the right road” requires vision, vision into the distant tomorrows. What are the dreams you are dreaming? What work are you doing now because your eye is fixed on a far-horizon dream?

The old Hebrew hymn, Psalm 8, finds the author looking to the Lord and praising the majestic name of God. The writer looks at the wonder and the marvel of creation, finding in the creation a God who cares. It seems there is a distant horizon out there where peace is a reality. It seems there is a distant horizon where creation is singing the same song. It seems there is a world where there can be sharing by all and scarcity for none.

Working toward sustaining a global village where there is such hope may be a far horizon but it is the deepest patriotic thing that we can do. Hope you had a blessed 4th of July.

Prayer: God of all creation, help me to look up and see the far horizon that you’ve placed before all of us. Amen.

--Ben Keckler
07.07.09