One of my favorite missionaries pointed something out to me once. Hillsboro Pike leads right into the heart of the great city from the south, all the way from Franklin and beyond. Since Nashville is in a bowl and a little bit lower than its surroundings, you can easily get lost in the concrete jungle once you are in it. But as you come up over the hill via the pike, you can grasp the charm of the entire city laid out before you.
You only have two or three seconds before the resplendent view is gone.
Then you drop down into the city, only able to see what is right in front of you.
Just two or three seconds...
"God gave us memories that we might have June roses in the bleak December."
-James Matthew Barrie
Sometimes we only have those two or three seconds worth of unimpeded sight, the straight vision of what is. We only catch sight of it for just long enough... and then it's gone.
Was it real? Does it still remain standing?
In his letter to the Hebrews, the Apostle Paul pleaded, "Call to remembrance the former days, in which, after ye were illuminated, ye endured a great fight of afflictions".
All throughout the scriptures, we are told not to forget.
And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation.
Helaman 5:12
Odds are, if it was right once it is still right. If you wake up one day and you find yourself a little bit further away from God, who really moved? We are given little bits of illumination in daily life, we are given gifts or shown the big picture even if just for a second, and then we need to remember. Though the Nashville skyline might be too close for you to see this very second, remember... remember the view from Hillsboro Pike.
If life might be too close for you this very second, remember... remember those things that brought you to this point, and as Paul further exhorted,
Cast not away therefore your confidence.
