Blessed are the...busy?

Sometimes I get so caught up in planning and numbers and lists and projects that I forget what it's all for. I suppose this happens to everyone at some point. The details override the reason they even matter in the first place. You can't see the forest through the trees.

My pastor is preaching on the Beatitudes for the next few weeks. Last Sunday he gave a sort of introduction to the sermon series, and explained the important of the "Blessed are those..." statements that are often misinterpreted. My logical brain tends to think, If blessed are the poor in spirit, for they will receive the kingdom of heaven, to experience the kingdom we must be poor in spirit.

But the logic fails. It's not that you can only experience the kingdom by being poor in spirit. The Beatitudes are not ethical imperatives. (I had to google that to get a better understanding of it, which one website explained as "an imperative derived from assumptions of constructivism." whatever that means). In this instance, we don't do something merely to reap the reward at the end.

The pastor explained that perhaps the Sermon on the Mount is like one massive vision statement. It's maybe not about the how, but the why. It's not about what you're doing, but what you're becoming.

Here's hoping this will help me stay focused amidst all the diagrams and details and dates. I love those things, but sometimes when I immerse myself in them, I get more involved in the task than the goal. Maybe blessed are the focused, instead of the busy.