Several years ago, I was on a tour of model railroads, and the bus stopped at the home of an ingenious microferroequinologist (we use fancy terms to make it seem more complex than it is, you know!). He modelled G, as in “Garden”, scale trains. His back yard was replete with all the typical workings of a G-scale railroad: houses, stations, hills, tunnels, and the like.
This ingenious model railroader, though, had added a little twist to his layout. If you looked carefully in the back yard of one of the G-scale houses, there was…a model railroad!
Yes, this fellow had placed within his 1:22 scale world a model train of the 1:160 variety. Within G-scale was an N-scale layout. The size difference made it look like there was a garden railroad inside a garden railroad. There was more to it than initially met the eye.
Our lives are like that, aren’t they? There’s more to them than meets the eye. I’m mindful of that most interesting video called “Get Service” (which you can watch here). When an annoyed man puts on a special pair of glasses, he can see footnotes, as it were, of what is going on in the life of each person who annoys him as he seeks to get his morning coffee. It helps him see each person from a different perspective – not as an annoyance, but as a human being, made in the image of God, in need of love and care and respect.
Each of us has more going on in life than meets the eye. As a follower of Jesus, you can live out your faith by treating others not as annoyances, but as people in need of your care and your respect. You don’t know what’s going on that has made them ‘extra grace required’ people crossing your path, but if you will treat them with the care the Lord would treat them with, imagine what a difference you could make!
“Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. See that no one pays back evil for evil, but always try to do good to each other and to all people” (1 Thessalonians 5.14-15, NLT).
