Facades

Singapore's skyline is marked by an amazing number of cranes.  Most of the government projects are focused on new development in the central business district.  For the private sector, the emphasis is on new high-rise housing construction.  Almost all of the private projects are multiyear, however the sales process begins with the first construction movement.  Integral to the sales efforts is the use of life size mock-ups.  They construct examples of each floor plan variation, hoping to give prospective buys a taste of what the final product will be.  Given the sales rate, many accept the premise!  The fa?ade tells them enough.  It works for everyone; projects are sold out, loans originated, new house payments begin, sales commissions flow, and people walk with the anticipation of what will be in two or three years.
Far more often that I am willing to admit, I catch myself constructing a fa?ade, confident that my imagination and interpretation are accurate and reliable.  With the best of intent, I have constructed something from my imagination.  There is no way of knowing if it is real or fiction.  With careless abandon, I live in the present yet dwell in the future.  I give up the moment at hand, saving myself for one that may never come as I think it will.  With unfounded trust, I buy into an idea that may or may not be truth filled.  Facades rest of premises; I am not sure they have anything to do with the invitation from God to be present in and with the moment at hand.
Facades can deceive the brightest.  If one recalls, on one occasion “they made a calf-idol, brought sacrifices to it, and congratulated each other on the wonderful religious program they had put together.” (Acts 7.41)  Everyone presents appeared to be confident that they was a worship experience that would last for a long time.  Candidly, it did not.
Facades may paint a pretty future, yet they are not the present.  While our choices affect the future, God's call is to be in the present that is now.