Several years ago I had the opportunity to tour a monastary in Southern Indiana. As we were on the tour we entered the sanctuary of the main church and the brother leading the tour called our attention to the mural of Christ at the far end of the sanctuary. He gave us a little information about the giant mural, the artist had come from Europe and spent several weeks completing the painting. It stood about 20 feet high, it was massive. Then he made a statement about the painting: "When one looks at the painting from this distance (we were at the farthest point from the mural we could be and still be in the church) the Christ seems rather cold and harsh, the colors look dark and unfriendly, but as you get closer to the mural you will notice the colors will brighten and the friendlier and warmer the Christ appears. The same is true with our life when one is far away from God; God seems cold and harsh, but as one gets closer to God the warmer and friendlier God appears to ones life.
With that story in mind if you were to rate your closeness to God on a scale between 1 and 10 with 1 being far away and 10 very close how would you rate relationship with God?What would cause your relationship to grow closer? What are some of the things which would cause you to move further away from God?
Let me know what you think