Bennett arrested, Bennett released! Bennett arrested, Bennett released! Sometimes I have the fantasy of walking into a classroom, not filled with children, but with our leaders and placing a small dot in the middle of a large blackboard covered in billions of other small dots. (Pictured: Roy Bennett)
That little dot could be the size of a pin head and yet it represents our planet in the midst of the universe. And then at the very end of the line I would make a tiny mark. That mark represents the whole length of human history about 200 000 years, 196 000 of which we know little about. The planet itself is 450 000 000 years old, that is, 2 250 times older than human beings. If you are still with me there is one further detail; the planet is 64% water and large areas are either too hot or too cold or too high for human habitation. So we are left with a tiny area and a short span of life, time for urgent creative work not for trivial distractions. I do not say that Mr Bennetts experiences are trivial but the way he is treated seems to have little to do with developing the country. And we dont have much time.
When I see the heavens, the work of your hands,
the moon and the stars which you have arranged,
what is man that you should keep him in mind,
mortal man that you care for him?
Psalm 8
To your eyes a thousand years
are like yesterday, come and gone,
no more than a watch in the night.
Psalm 90
Sometimes we lose sight of the larger picture. We are a tiny part of creation and have a short span of years. And yet each of us is important and has his or her work to do. The extraordinary thing is that God knows each of us by name (John 10:3) and that he loves us and gives himself for us (Galatians 2:20). He delights in us (Proverbs 8:31).
But we are like people on a journey who forget what the journey is for. We are like hunters who see the buck and set off with enthusiasm for the chase. But on the way they get tired and turn aside to enjoy the country they pass through. They set their eyes on this field and that and they quarrel over who is to have what. They lose sight of the buck. It escapes and in the end they gain nothing.
Blessed are the pure of heart (Matthew 5:8): those who keep their eye on the goal; they see the bigger picture and they realise they have just one life to use to the full.
Post published in: Opinions