ISBC 27 - Proximate Purpose
ISBC 27 - Proximate Purpose
Chapter 27 of Hope: A User's Manual
Beaumont’s words: “Proximate purpose [is] the next appropriate piece of work…. A proximate purpose will encourage people to walk to the end of the beam of light cast by the flashlight they are holding, in order to cast the beam just a little further, to see an additional fragment of the beam ahead.”1
I totally had a photograph in my mind as I read this chapter. I envisioned a thick foggy morning before the sun came up. I had a flashlight and was going to craft a photograph where the fog and the darkness would combine to show only the beam of light reflecting off the fog in the darkness.
It was going to be so perfect.
And then the morning came to do it.
Scout and I were out the door at 5am (she was not thrilled about it, but she went). As we drove, the fog kept getting thicker as we neared the lake and I was thinking to myself, “this is going to be perfect!” I was so excited as we drove. We pulled in and I realized that I had forgotten both the flashlight and the tripod I was going to use to craft this perfect photo. Undaunted, I thought to just use the headlights from the car. It didn’t come out quite as I had hoped, but it was the best I could do that morning.
But the photograph does show the darkness and it does show the illuminated path ahead and not much more. To me, it does speak Susan Beaumont’s words (as quoted by MaryAnn in this chapter) about proximate purpose of being able to see the next step or two ahead but not the entirety of what is before us. And as we walk to that point where the light had been illuminating, the next few steps might be revealed.
And sometimes, like what I was planning here, we think we know what the steps are but then find that you need to take some entirely new ones.
Grace, Peace, Love, and Joy,
Ed
McKibben Dana, MaryAnn. Hope: A User's Manual (p. 121). Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co.. Kindle Edition.
Funny reading this reflection this morning. I wrote this at least 3 weeks ago and realizing how it also speaks to current circumstances in our country today. The Democratic Party has had to make this kind of shift. A few months ago, things seemed like they were clear of how they were going to move forward and then so much shifted. So, a courageous decision was made by President Biden to step away from the campaign and so the party is taking steps into something new and unexpected. The same could also be said for the Republican Party as well in that they are having to make a shift too.
Interesting how timing works with these kinds of things...