Smelling the Barn

“Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already been made perfect, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

All of us who are mature should take such a view of things. And if on some point you think differently, that too God will make clear to you.” (Philippians 3:12-15 NIV)

Years ago I was on a ranch riding a trail horse.  The lead rider left the group to retrieve a hat that was dropped, leaving my horse and me second in the line of riders.  Suddenly, the lead horse went from a trot to a gallop and I hung on for dear life.  The rider in front was thrown from her horse, cracking a rib, and I was left unsure if I ever wanted to ride a horse again. We later concluded the horse had smelled the barn and, without a leader, just took off.   

As we are winding down the year and getting close to the end of the semester, students are starting to “smell the barn.”  Like a horse on the trail toward home, it is easy to become obsessed with the end of the school year.  

This is the time of the year, after Spring Break, when students start looking ahead to the end of the semester and the beginning of summer. They can smell it and often their focus on the present is distracted.  

As a campus minister, I can see that happening spiritually as well.  It is tempting as a leader to let responsibilities slide and look ahead to different things in the summer.  That is the temptation of life—letting our longing for the future take our focus away from the present.  But the present is where we live and we honor the Lord by our lives in the present.  The future can be a motivation for living in the present, but should never be an excuse for us to abdicate our responsibilities in the here and now.  Paul was looking forward to Eternity, but he continued to strain to get there.

You may be “smelling the barn” right now and are tempted to just coast to the end, but the Lord is reminding you through Paul that between now and then there is much straining yet to be done.  Pressing on to the end is the best way to honor your Lord.  

© Jim Musser 2017