Gaining Ground Without Making Headway

by John Lohman

Pastor of Family Life and Counseling

Arctic explorer Admiral Peary, while in the polar region, once traveled all day by dog-sled toward the north.  He traveled with speed that day, but at day’s end, when he checked his bearings to determine his latitude, he discovered he was even farther south than when he originally started out that morning!  All day long Peary and his dogs had been giving it their all, running as fast as they could.  Unfortunately, they were on an ice floe driven south by the ocean’s current.

Sad to say, Peary’s misfortune is disturbingly familiar to the American family and society.  As the American family finds itself living in the 21^st century, it sometimes seems to be on an ice floe; the family is gaining ground without making headway.

Compared to past decades, many of today’s families are:

• looking better, yet feeling worse.
• living in nicer houses, yet struggling to make them a home.
• earning more, yet enjoying it less.
• filling life with entertainment, electronics and ceaseless activity, yet fighting off inner boredom and emptiness.
• benefitting from medical advancements, yet suffering from moral sickness.
• eating healthier, yet pursuing “the new gluttony”, e.g., lust after travel, drugs, exotic tastes, sights, sounds, and daring extreme sports experiences  that trigger an adrenalin high.

What can families do to get off the ice floe?  Keep the big picture in focus – the overall scheme of things.  Jesus once asked, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”  In the overall scheme of things, we can progress physically, emotionally, socially, materially and intellectually; but if we ignore the spiritual dimension of life, we will continue traveling on the ice floe, gaining ground yet failing to make headway.

As we begin a new year, I invite you to determine in your heart of hearts to pursue whole person growth and godliness rather than drift south on the current of life.