Look Up

I’ll never forget trudging across my college campus during the coldest month of the year-January. Bowling Green State University would never receive the reward for the prettiest campus in the country. It was flat, with a tree here and there, and when the wind would rip through, you could barely catch your breath. I wouldn’t see that many people on my walks to class because I’d have my head down, wrapped tightly in scarfs, with only my eyes showing. I don’t think I saw other students going to and from class until things thawed out sometime in April.

The last few years have been tough for all of us. I sometimes feel that we’re all like my “younger me” wrapped in scarfs, with only eyes showing, shuffling along, hoping things will get better.

I love this version of Colossians 3:1-3: “So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to what is going on around Christ- that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” (The Message Translation of the Bible, Eugene Peterson)

This verse is a loving and gentle push for us to stop trudging around in our weariness and frustration. Stop looking at all our problems, irritations, and annoyances. Quit living in discontentment. Practice setting your heart on Christ, which means striving to put heaven’s priorities into daily practice. It means we focus our hearts on what’s eternal, rather than the temporal.

How in the world do we see things from Jesus’ perspective? We walk with Jesus. We study the Gospels and learn from Him. We recognize that we are raised with Christ and should act just as Jesus did! We talk to Jesus constantly and ask Him for help. Jesus lived in supernatural power and if we know Christ, we have been given the same power that raised Jesus from the dead. We have the enabling power of the Holy Spirit in us! The Spirit helps us lift our eyes to the eternal and see things from his perspective. We learn to walk through these challenging days because of our hope in Christ, not the circumstances.

Here is a quote to sit with: “Love heavenly things; study them; let your hearts be entirely engrossed by them.” (Clarke) 

Attitude check. How are you really doing? Seek Christ. See things from his perspective. Get your eyes off the ground and stop shuffling along. He will help You get through anything that comes your way. Look up. 

Nancy Abbott is the Chaplain for the YMCA of Greater San Antonio.