Looking Up

We all have someone we look up to. That person may change over time, we can look up to multiple people at the same time too. We need role models. Benchmarks. Goals. Someone who has walked the path before us and paved the way. Someone who showed that life is possible, someone who inspires us to be more and do more. Do I say that I look up to Jesus? Dare I proclaim that I look up to Jesus? What does it mean to look up to Him? Do I feel like He’s too far of a stretch? Someone who I don’t emulate simply because He’s perfect and I’m not. So, I look up to other human beings and prize them over him. What if it’s not simply to look up to someone (although that’s important and can help us grow); What if it’s just to look up. Look up. Look UP.

// Look up. Literally. To pull your head back and have your face exposed to the sky. What do you see? Or maybe what do you hear when you look up?

// The moon shines brightly. Clouds crowd around it, and the tree branches frame them all. The day has ended. It’s night time. Dawn to dusk and dusk to dawn. A seemingly endless cycle. I’m tired but the moon doesn’t care. It’s still there. Shining brightly. The longer I stare at the moon, the more glaring it becomes. It’s smiling at me. It’s being way too happy. It’s reminding me that nights can be pretty too, that it’s always the darkest before dawn. And that I can take heart, because the one who created the moon, the clouds, the trees, who created everything, is with me. And for that, I will be okay. I can be tired, be emotional, be angsty, be flustered and worried over many things but still at the end of the day, be placed back in a perspective. His perspective. His plans are higher than mine. His thoughts are higher than my thoughts. I can give it all to Him. I can surrender. And every breath that I take, may it be a reminder of his grace, love and mercy.

// Psalm 27:7-14 7 Hear my voice when I call, LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. 8 My heart says of you, “Seek his face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek. 9 Do not hide your face from me, do not turn your servant away in anger; you have been my helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, God my Savior. 10 Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me. 11 Teach me your way, LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. 12 Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, spouting malicious accusations. 13 I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living. 14 Wait for the LORD; be strong and take heart and wait for the LORD.

(written in 2017)