Flying Leap and Missing the Mark

Our kids are home for the Christmas break, and to celebrate we went for an overnight getaway to Amecameca. The village is nestled into the skirts of Mexico’s great volcanos Popocatépetl and Ixtaccíhuatl where the air is fresh and the food is fantastic homestyle country cooking. During our stay this week, we set out for a casual stroll under the pine trees. The rainy season ceased several months ago meaning that the grass was now tawny and crunchy underfoot, and the ground was hard and somewhat dusty. I watched my son’s long legs step gracefully over a tiny creek and continue on bounding from old trunks to picnic tables and showing off his goalkeeper agilities. He had made passing the creek look so easy that I didn’t think twice. I took a few steps back, sized up the incline on the far bank, ran and leaped. The world around me seemed to hold its breath, and then erupted with laughter as I missed my footing and fell hard and flopped within inches of that tiny creek! Okay, so I misjudged that one just a tad! I am not the only one in history to do something so publicly stupid, but at least I did not end up in the creek. My family has never laughed so hard, and well, King Solomon did say that laughter is good medicine. That evening as we returned to the city, I nursed my bruises and reflected on what I had read that morning. It seems that King Solomon’s son also missed the mark that was laid out before him. 2 Chronicles 12 tells the story of how Rehoboam, once firmly established as king, turned away from God’s law. He ruled in Jerusalem for seventeen years and in that time learned how to humble himself before the Lord and managed to turn the Lord’s wrath from him. It doesn’t sound too bad, but by the end of his life, verse 14 says the following about Rehoboam,

“He did evil because he had not set his heart on seeking the Lord.”

Rehoboam missed the mark, because he did not set his heart on seeking the Lord. I like the Spanish version of this verse that says (in my personal translation) 'he acted badly because he did not have the firm purpose of seeking the Lord.' With the holiday season in full swing, it is all too easy to get caught up in end-of-year dinners, gift exchanges, decorating and baking. It is easy to get so distracted that we miss the mark regardless of how secure we may feel in our position with God. This Christmas I am challenged to firmly and purposefully set my heart on seeking the Lord.