By Brad Campbell –

Just a thought to help start your week.

I’ve had the privilege of visiting several museums of all kinds and sizes over my fifty-plus years.  Each and every one has something unique to offer, be it the unusual rare Picasso sculpture, the Hope Diamond, or rusty Civil War bullets.  The picture I’m showing you this week is of the famed Musée du Louvre, or the Louvre Museum in Paris.

The Louvre is a wondrously huge place filled with ornate statues and massive paintings.  Housed in what was once the Louvre Palace, these art works and others attract millions of visitors annually.  The one thing we wanted to see while there was a simple painting of a simple woman.  It’s a work you might have heard of  — the Mona Lisa!  Yes, we wandered through the throngs of people, we studied and followed our guide maps, and we asked an English-speaking museum worker to point us in the right direction.

And, yes, there it was.  Alone on the far wall of a grand room hangs a surprisingly small painting under constant guard.  And amazing as it seems, the incredible numbers of people patiently each took turns and briefly, if only for just a few short seconds, posed for photos with the grand lady.  The guard of course, ever alert, reminded everyone to remain behind the ropes and barriers, and he hurried us along for the next curious sight-seers to have their turn.  And then it was over.  We had been all over a huge museum to see a small relatively disappointing painting.

On what do you set your sights and hopes this week?  Do you build up, wandering and wondering about what’s to come around the next corner, in the next gallery, only to be disappointed when you finally arrive and it isn’t all it’s cracked up to be?
Certainly your experience with the famed Mona Lisa could be much different than mine, but the question I wish to pose to us is this  — How much greater, how much more beautiful, how much more wonderful is the love of Jesus for His children than all the excitement any earthly treasures could possibly bring?  If only we were as eager to spend time with the Lord as we are to stand in line to visit some famous attraction.  When I finally have my turn in line to come before the Master, I know I won’t be disappointed!  What a day that will be when my Jesus I shall see!

Just a thought.