Release your grip on something in your life today so that you can experience the deeper blessings behind that joyful gift.
SHAUNA: It’s Shauna here on Joni Eareckson Tada: Sharing Hope. Joni, I’ve been working with you here, for over 13 years now, and I always love your all your insights on different Bible verses. But I’ve heard you call one verse odd and wonderful. It’s Ecclesiastes 11:1 which says, “Cast your bread upon the waters, for after many days you will find it again.” What does that mean?
JONI: Well, my friend, Peter Sumner directs the Christian Blind Mission in New Zealand. Peter himself was visually impaired at an early age and he has spent decades in darkness – the man cannot see. But after years of blindness, an incredible miracle happened in Peter's life when an eye specialist was able to perform a corneal graft on Peter's eyes. And suddenly, after so much time without sight, he was able to see. Peter could not believe what he saw: brilliant sunsets and smiles on the faces of friends. He told me that he never imagined that yellow could be so – so yellow! And never did he dream that red could be so red. For this man, seeing for the first time was like a biblical miracle.
But the miracle did not last long. Peter told me in a recent letter that he has suffered a setback. The corneal graft has developed an ulceration. He wrote me, “Joni, this has reduced my vision significantly and it has been rather worrying. Sight, I have found, is quite addictive and the thought of losing it all, once again, is very difficult to bear. I'm pleased to say that my condition has stabilized, and, at present, I can read letters with the help of a strong light and a magnifying glass.”
But then at the bottom of the letter, Peter inserted a line from a poem by William Blake. Listen to this: “He who binds himself to a joy, does the winged life destroy; but he who kisses the joy as it flies, lives in eternity's sunrise.”
When you think about it, that little line by William Blake explains Ecclesiastes 11:1: “Cast your bread upon the waters [that is hold it lightly; be willing to let it go; release it], because then after many days you will find it again.” Oh, friend, when God gives us something extraordinary – a wonderful blessing, do not bind yourself to it; do not hold it too tightly; do not clutch it, for if you do, you’ll destroy the very thing that makes it such a blessing. Rather, instead kiss the joy as it flies by. Cast your bread upon the waters. For then, you will find the real blessing behind the joyful gift.
Oh, and by the way, Peter added a P.S. to his letter. He said, “Joni, I have had to learn not to bind to myself the joy of sight but to kiss this winged blessing as it flies through my life. At times, the urge to grab and hold onto it is overwhelming, but in my heart of hearts, I realize one has to develop a certain detachment to joys of all kinds in order to escape the insidious poison of bitterness and despair.”
I like that part where he says that we should develop a certain detachment to joys of all kinds – that’s what it means to hold a gift lightly. Be willing; be ready to let it go should God choose to take it away. For he will always replace it with something far better.
SHAUNA: Oh, Joni! I can’t even tell you how much this encourages me. And friend, do you need to release your grip on something in your life today so that you can experience the deeper blessings behind that joyful gift? Well, do it today, and if you need some extra encouragement, just go to joniradio.org where you’ll find all kinds of resources and inspiration. Remember, that’s joniradio.org.
© Joni and Friends