The Big Picture

Ever been to one of those boring meeting at work? You know the one with all the cliques : " We all need to be on the same page", "We need to stop putting all our eggs in one basket", and my personal favorite: "We need to all look at the "Big Picture."
What, exactly it, the Big Picture? I was talking to the lady who delivers my paper this morning, I looked down at her car and there were hundreds of papers there. Funny I never thought about how many papers she delivered each morning, just mine. I am quick to call in, if mine is late, but her "Big Picture" is that she has literately hundreds of customers that she tries to deliver the paper on time to each and every day. Maybe I won't be quite so hard on her the next time my paper is a little late.
We seldom see the Big Picture of anything unless we are involved in it. At work I just worry about my job, what do I need to do to get things done, get home and get paid Friday? But my boss, sees that there are 10 of ME's (I know that is not a word), that have to do the same. While I am doing my job over here, there are say 9 more people like me doing their job over there. Maybe someone is sick that day, maybe someone got mad and left early without permission. Maybe someone wanted a raise and didn't get it so they are mad and slacking off on their job. This is my boss' Big Picture. Then there is the Company Mgr, his job is to not only see that things get done, but that customers are happy, he has 3 supervisors like my boss, that he has to look over. He has things like inventory control, damage assessment , coverage, ......to attend to. This is his "Big Picture" Then you got the president of the whole company, who looks at each branch as a whole unit, he has to look at numbers, see which branch is falling behind, which is leading the charge, how the managers of each branch are doing their job, so he sees the REAL Big Picture, as far as the company goes.
How many people are there on the Earth? Billions? This is God's Big Picture. He hears every prayer, every thought, every complaint. He hears when we call out to Him in earnest and He answers. Maybe not in the way we think He should, but He answers. Why doesn't He answer our prayers in the way we think He should? Because He sees, yes, The Big Picture. He sees every life, every problem every victory. He sees that people are getting close to asking Jesus into their hearts over in Africa, and He sees that there is a Minister in Europe that needs to go their and talk to them. So what does He do? He arranges a series of events so that the minister ends up in Africa at the perfect time to share with these people. But He does this billions of times a day.
We have all prayed for something to happen, or not to happen and feel God doesn't answer. But we only see our lives, our difficulties, our friends and family hurting, our stress, our pride, our personal agendas. God sees it all, and cares for US ALL.
How does He keep up with all this? Here is the answer that answers nothing, yet it answer everything, because IT Is THE Answer: Because He is God. I used to hate it when I would ask something like How does God know such and such? My Mom would always say: Because He is God. That felt like a cop-out to me, what kind of answer is that? But it is the only answer. It takes trust to be satisfied with that answer, faith and
trust, and that is what he asks us for.
. You know those pictures taken in space of the Earth? We see a blue beautiful sphere with the clouds, the continents, the blue oceans. It is really beautiful seeing our planet like that. I used to thing that is how God sees us. WRONG, God sees each and everyone of us individually. Sure He can look at the Earth as a whole if He wants to, but He doesn't want to. He wants to look at each and everyone of us. We are his children, as a parent, do you look at your children as a group, or there goes my son, or daughter. Maybe you have two kids that both play soccer, do you look out on the field and think there are my kids? No you look at each of them individually and think, Johnny needs a haircut, or Billy is getting so tall, wow good shot Johnny.................They as we, are individuals and we as parents, as God as our heavenly father ,see each of them, our problems, our strengths, our insecurities, our triumphs, our battles, our worries, our pride, our temptations, our sins, our Heart.
So the next time you in one of THOSE meetings and the saying "We have to see the Big Picture" comes up, smile, think about God and thank Him for seeing the Big Picture but mainly the little one, you.
But not for to long, it may get you in trouble at work.