Keep Looking Up!

Interesting...Just as I was starting to write this post, I was attempting to come up with a good title, while in the background I could hear my 91 year old mother in law talking with my husband about our church service today. He asked her what she got out of the service, and she said, "We need to keep looking up!"  I almost choked, because she had NO idea what I was in the process of writing at that exact moment!

Please note the picture at the top of this page. Most likely you will notice the Osprey perched on the top of the dead tree branches immediately, and then if you look down you will see the dogwood flowers a little blurry in the forefront.  Let me tell you about this picture, and then see if you get the connection!

With the onset of daylight savings time last weekend and warmer spring days, I have determined to get out and walk more often, taking pictures of anything that "moves" me at the moment.  Yesterday morning I headed out early, camera in hand, looking for signs of spring.  The dogwood, azaleas, wildflowers, and berries are starting to bloom, the birds are actively building their nests and busily feeding their young.  As I was focusing on the dogwood trees in and around the edge of the woods, I glanced up at the perfect blue sky, and there, looking down at me, was this magnificent huge osprey!

Of course, I immediately shifted my focus (there's that "One Word" again!) to view the osprey for as long as he would allow... which was, as you can see by the pictures, obviously quite a while...and would have been longer but it was time for me to get going.

And as I stood there snapping these photos I couldn't help but think, "I almost missed this marvelous experience because I wasn't looking up!"

I wonder...how often in life have we missed out on some marvelous experience because we weren't "looking up"?  It appears to be in our human nature to focus on the here and now, the stuff of life that is surrounding us, oftentimes pulling us downward and blinding us to the bigger picture...the grandeur of the greater plan...the great panorama of the magnificent tapestry of God's design He intended for our lives.

 We tend to get "tunnel vision"...only seeing a very narrow view of life from our limited earth-bound perspective...and missing the higher viewpoint of God's perfect plan.

God said to Jeremiah the prophet in Jeremiah 29:11 ~

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, says the Lord, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a hope."

 We need to be more like the Psalmist who wrote:

 "I will lift up my eyes to the hills--from whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.  He will not allow your foot to be moved;  He Who keeps you will not slumber. "  Psalm 121:1-3

What's funny is, when my husband asked his mother what she got out of the church service this morning, and her quick response was "Keep Looking Up"...that actually had nothing to do with the service today at all...at least not in word or song or theme...and yet, that is what she heard and felt.  My thought is, yes, that IS the message of God's Word to us always, everyday!

KEEP LOOKING UP!  

Keep looking up to Jesus...Fix your eyes on Him!  Why? Well, because...

"The LORD is your keeper;

The LORD is your shade at your right hand.

The sun shall not strike you by day, 

nor the moon by night.  

The LORD shall preserve you from all evil; 

He shall preserve your soul.

The LORD shall preserve your going out and your coming in

from this time forth,

and even forevermore!"

Psalm 121:5-8

So, where are YOU going to look today?

Here is a link to another post I think you will like from Psalm 121:1-8  , entitled, "God is a Lot Like Mt. Washington".