Looking Through a Knothole

On Wednesday nights we go to to a bible study at our church. Last week the teacher talked about our awareness of our lives. He said that our knowledge about our own lives is like watching a parade through a knothole in a fence. I love this analogy!

We can only see a brief, limited glimpse at any one time. We can remember what has passed us (somewhat) and maybe look a little into the future, but in no way can we see much.

God can see the entire parade and is actually directing the parade. I live so much in the moment, only focused on what is currently happening. I sometimes can't even remember what was happening last week and I can only speculate as to what will happen next week. My awareness is limited to "now."

I don't even know if the parade of my life is at the halfway mark, the three-quarter mark, or almost over. I have no idea if the next "floats" in the parade will be joyous or tragic. I can hope for certain circumstances in my future, but only God knows what is coming around the bend.

I started to think about my limited knowledge of other people's lives. I have no idea what happened in their parade, their lives, before and I have no idea what their future holds. Even my brother (who is younger than me and I have known his entire life) has portions of the parade of his life which I have never seen.

I frequently struggle with judging other people and need to remind myself that my knowledge of a person's life is limited and I cannot judge their behavior based on the tiny glimpse I am seeing through the knothole in the fence.