Imagine you are hiking in the mountains. Your objective is to reach the top of a peak you can see several miles away. Between you and the objective are a few smaller hills and ridge lines. As you set out on your hike, you can easily see the objective as you go, but as you get closer to the smaller hills and ridges they block out your view of the peak, your objective. However, as you climb up the smaller hills, just as you are reaching the top, you again get sight of the objective.

This illustration parallels our lives on earth, as well as our Christian lives. When we get started, we can see our objective, though far off in the future, we see where we are going, but as we encounter the struggles and obstacles of life, they can block out our view of our real objective. We must keep moving forward even though, temporarily, we cannot see our objective, we know it is on the other side of the obstacle. Just as we are overcoming the obstacle, we remember our objective and see it again a little closer than before.

Paul writes in 2 Corinthians 4:18, “So we don’t look at the troubles we can see now; rather, we fix our gaze on things that cannot be seen. For the things we see now will soon be gone, but the things we cannot see will last forever.”

Dear Lord, we know our ultimate objective is eternity with you. Help us remember to keep our focus on this objective as we overcome the troubles we see day to day. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.