A few of my previously-published posts have mentioned that this area has several different routes for my many-mile mega-walks and that my by-far favorites are the ones which involve the National Mall.

The particular path upon which I trod today took me from the Jefferson Memorial, past the Washington Monument, across the pedestrian bridge by the Tidal Basin to the Lincoln Memorial then across the Memorial Bridge to – and around – the hallowed ground of Arlington National Cemetery, past the Netherlands Carillon, culminating at the famous Iwo Jima (Marines) Memorial and then back to where I started, and repeating that path as many as ten times but usually three to five, depending on the amount of time allotted for exercising on a given day.

This morning there were four main thoughts which walloped my mind while I was walking, in this (chronological) order.

I had chosen this same route (of the several different spectacular ones available in this area) just last week and the trees were how they normally are eleven months a year but today was a very different story as they all started sprouting bright, white (cherry) blossoms in the past few days, which reminded me of a post I penned a whole year  ago so the first main thought that struck me this morning was how quickly  time passes… I simply c-a-n-n-o-t  believe that it has been an entire year!

• “Yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow.  You are just a vapor that appears for a little while and then vanishes away.” (James 4:14) [i.e., like an exhaled breath on a cold morning]

The second thought that hit me during this morning’s walk was, when seeing said cherry blossoms, to take inventory of my spiritual status to see if it was in “full bloom” like DC’s trees these next few weeks, or if there were any areas which needed to be “pruned” as only the Lord and Holy Spirit and Bible can do, can correct, can cause:

• “like newborn babes, long for the pure milk of the word, that by it you may grow [i.e., bloom!] in respect to salvation [i.e., spiritually]” (1 Peter 2:2)
• “But his delight is in the law of the Lord [i.e., the Bible], and in His law he meditates day and night.  And he will be like a tree firmly planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in its season, and its leaf [i.e., blossom!] does not wither; and in whatever he does, he prospers.” (Psalm 1:2-3)

The third thought occurred immediately thereafter:  for the first time since last fall, the National Park Service opened the pedal-powered “paddle” boats (blue like the sky-reflecting water on this particular day anyway) and that (of course!) brought a Bible verse to mind:

• “Behold, the ships also, though they are so great and are driven by strong winds, are still directed by a very small rudder, wherever the inclination of the pilot desires.” (James 3:4)

But the Bible doesn’t stop there!  No, it immediately wields wise words of warning, noting that just as the path of a great ship is determined, indeed, “directed” by one of its “small” parts among many, so also the path of a person’s life is determined and directed by one of its  ”small” parts among many, the tongue:

• “So also the tongue is a small part of the body, and yet it boasts of great things.  Behold, how great a forest is set aflame by such a small fire!” (James 3:5)

Much more about that topic in a forthcoming one but for the purposes of this  post, after proceeding along the path picked for today’s walk and coming to Arlington National Cemetery, my eyes were drawn to and literally couldn’t move away from those rows and rows and rows of gravestones, and that reminded me of how our focus, our gaze, our eyes should be drawn to – and remain  fixed (and fixated) on – the Lord Jesus:

• “fixing our eyes on Jesus” (Hebrews 12:2a)

Just as I (quite literally) couldn’t take my eyes off of those rows and rows of gravestones, so also – and times a trillion – I shouldn’t be able to take my eyes off of the Person and wisdom and will and work and Word and words of our loving Lord.

To be sure, it’s impossible for the finite, Fall-flawed human mind to muster maximum, continual focus on Him, due to the presence and potential of sin on this side of eternity (which is why verse 1 tells us to “lay aside” not just “sin which so easily entangles us” but even “every encumbrance” – more about this too in a future post) but that should absolutely be our daily, increasingly-neared goal.

May we wisely be aware of just how short, how brief our life actually is, and maintain a proper sense of spiritual urgency accordingly.

May we wisely “test” and “examine” ourselves spiritually – rigorously (“be all the more diligent”) and regularly (verb tense) – to take inventory, to see if our walk with the Lord is indeed “blooming”.

• “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!” (2 Corinthians 13:5a)
• “Therefore, brethren, be all the more diligent to make certain about His calling and choosing you; for as long as you practice these things, you will never stumble; for in this way the entrance into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ will be abundantly supplied to you.” (2 Peter 1:10-11, with “these things” referring back to the preceding verses 5-7 – which, interestingly and importantly, similarly contain the phrase “applying all diligence” – namely, “faith”, “moral excellence”, “knowledge”, “self-control”, “perseverance”, “godliness”, “brotherly kindness” and “love”.)

May we wisely be aware of just how powerful and potent and potentially poisonous and self-destructive our words, our speech, our tongue can be, to never forget that though it’s small in size compared to other major parts of our body, it’s outsized  in determining the direction and destiny of our lives, since it literally “directs” such, just like the “very small rudder” of a ship.

And fourthly and lastly but definitely not least – in fact, most importantly since if we get this one right, the first three will fall into place nicely – may we wisely maintain, keep, “fix our eyes”, our focus, on the Lord Jesus, since He was and is and forevermore shall be the very personification of perfection and power and purity and every good thing – to Him and Him alone be the glory, God-blessed forever.  Amen.

[NOTE:  I never include nearly  this many songs/videos in a post but am doing so this time because each and every one is (a) spot-on to what I wrote above and (b) unique and different  from the others below (hard to believe but I actually nixed  ten other versions, because those ones weren’t  unique enough) and in my humble view all will be a big blessing to you and are thus worthy of your time except the very last one for those who don’t like their music/hymns to be “rocky” in nature, otherwise I think you’ll enjoy all of these.  Sincerely, DJ Bible]

 

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