Looking Up!

I sat down with a steaming cuppa in our little backyard. Busy birds chirped and sang, flying around excitedly. Soft winds rustled, creating sweet music. Bright sunshine dazzled my eyes. Blue skies beckoned. I was invigorated in the cool morning air. What a perfect summer's day! A little later, when I looked up, clouds had formed unusual patterns in the skies. There were pretty streaks of white on blue, like rays of white sunshine rushing upward. 

It was the first time in all my life that I had a Christian neighbour just beyond my back fence. How cool was that! "Thank you God", I whispered as I went to meet her in the little gazebo behind our homes. We spent a lovely hour together, drinking in the sight of the green grass on the reserve, refreshed by cool breezes that played around us, enjoying our time with God and each other. As we prayed and sought God and His purposes for our lives, He met with us. Finding His presence together was like viewing a glorious sunrise at break of day. 

We left full of joy, strengthened in the faith.

When I reached home. I sat out in the back yard again, with my Bible and God. Imagine my surprise when I found that two hours after I'd sat there that morning, the very same patterns were again forming in the skies. Not a co-incidence! Surely, God must be speaking to me through them? I tried to decipher His message. But wasn't sure what it was!

Eleven days later, I completed my weekly grocery shopping at our shopping centre and wheeled a laden trolley out into the car park. When I got outside, I gasped in surprise. Angels seemed to be flying across the skies as the heavens once again proclaimed the glory of God. I stopped my trolley so I could get a picture. I looked up. And I clicked my camera. Once. Twice. Thrice.  

As I wended my way back to my car to unload my groceries, I knew what the skies proclaimed.

"Look up ... Look up ... Look up, my child!"

That was it. Loud and clear. Two weeks earlier, it had been the same message. My current season was a challenging one. Here then was the solution. Look Up!  St Paul reminds us of this truth so well in his letter to the Colossians. "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. Col 3:1-2

I have to admit that I often shuffle along like an old man in his carpet slippers, absorbed only in the challenges ahead. I forget to look up. I don't live from my place of authority. We believers have been raised with Christ and are seated with Him in the heavenly places. We need to stop gazing at the fleeting troubles of this world and look up instead.

But how does looking up help us? By discovering deep within our beings that God is mighty and to be trusted. The truth is that when we finally understand the greatness and goodness of God, we will discover in Him everything we need. Looking anywhere but at Christ for finding contenment is like jumping into a mud puddle when we are hot, instead of into the sparking lake in front of us. Or like gazing at a small grain of sand, trying to find joy in it, when we can instead run to the ocean and play on the beach, savouring its vastness and its soft white sand.

How are you doing today dear friend? Is the going difficult? I feel your pain. Life in this world is far from easy. Let's you and I, look up as God asks us to. Let's remember all He's done for us in the past. One day, we will reign with Him in glory. Let's re-discover the blessings we have in Him. Let's live not from our emotions but from our spirits, feasting on the promises of God. He cares. Deeply. And He will bring you through to the finish line.

Yes, with Him, you will overcome!

So ... let's look up! Into the beautiful face of Jesus!

Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Col 3:1-4

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. Heb 12:1-2