One day I was walking on a trail with my youngest, Matt, and a couple of my friends and their kids. As we walked along, Matt and I were pushing our feet through the abundance of leaves that had fallen to the ground. He and I were talking about how we didn’t like the withering leaves on the ground. We preferred them when they were vibrant on the trees above. We carried on the conversation for a couple of minutes with our heads down as our feet continued to rustle their way through the crunchy, dead leaves.
In a break in our conversation I heard one of my friends say in amazement, “look at what we’d miss if we forgot to look up!”
My friend’s words caught my attention as I realized I had been walking with my head down focused on the dead leaves on the ground. I had forgotten to look up.
What had we been missing?
When I looked up, what I saw amazed me.
The sky was a beautiful blue. The magnificent sunlight was breaking through the towering trees, illuminating all below. The light enhanced the leaves array of colors. Everything above was bright, brilliant and beautiful. What a difference to what Matt and I had been focused on.
When we continued walking this moment made me reflect on how in my life I can often be “looking down,” focused on the struggle in front of me. Whether it be a mundane struggle like getting laundry done, a parenting struggle, or a life struggle I’ve had to walk through such as anxiety, depression or cancer, I find I easily can fixate on the struggle, like Matt and I were focusing on the dead leaves.
Yet that isn’t what God wants for me, or for you. He doesn’t want our eyes to be focused on our struggles. He wants our eyes to be fixed on Him, His light, His Word and His Truth. Doing this doesn’t mean we won’t have struggles but if we are looking to Him, then we have lifted our eyes from the struggles to where our help comes from; God.
When my thoughts remain focused on a struggle, I can find myself growing heavy hearted. Yet when I choose to lift my eyes from the struggle and instead choose to look to God, it’s like His wisdom and Truth are the sunlight breaking through the trees shining a light on my heart and mind.
I share this with you today because I know I am not the only one who has struggles. If you too find that your thoughts, and conversations, can fixate on your struggles and you forget to look up from them, like I did the leaves on the ground, I invite you to join me to...
pause. breathe. pray.™
May we remember to look up. To look to God who will help us through the day, no matter the struggle. May we recognize that when we focus too much on our struggles, we may miss out on the beauty God has for us in this day. Every day, may we purposefully, and physically, turn our heads and our eyes up towards God to remember He is with us and wants to help us. He is the light that will shine into the darkness of our struggles. He is the love that lightens the heavy and will help us experience the fullness of the day, even in the midst of our struggles. He is the one who can take a moment on a walk with my son to help me see more clearly, and I know He can do the same for you too.
With love and hope,
Shawn
I lift up my eyes to the mountains— where does my help come from?
My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth.
He will not let your foot slip— he who watches over you will not slumber;
indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep.
The LORD watches over you— the LORD is your shade at your right hand;
the sun will not harm you by day, nor the moon by night.
The LORD will keep you from all harm— he will watch over your life;
the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore. - Psalm 121