Look up

Personal Photo: I snapped this image during the display, and as lovely as the photo is, I keep the memory of these beautiful subtle hues in my mind from the actual night :)

I felt the cool ground against my back as I laid down outside. I covered up with a light blanket and I took a deep breath, listening for any singing frogs or crickets in the distance. I let my eyes wander over the vastness of the sky, shrinking as I tried to wrap my mind around how big it all was, how far away everything seemed when I watched the stars. I tried to find some constellations I could recognize, but they all blurred together to make one massive blanket of twinkling lights that seemed to span all around me. I loved the stars, and every summer growing up, I would get lost in the simplicity and quietness of their brilliance.

A few weeks ago, all fifty states could see the Northern Lights. A little chillier than the summers spent on a blanket in my backyard, I bundled my sweatshirt around my hands and rushed outside to take a peek. The sky was subtle shades of pinks and greens, with streaks of light jutting from the northern part of the sky. It was marvelous to see it. There is something about watching the night sky that brings me closer to God, that reminds me of how small I am and how big He is. While I stood there absorbing the colors, looking for new streaks of colors above me, I could almost hear it whispered in my ear to keep looking up. I kept looking skyward, and stretched my neck to see how far I could go. A simple message indeed, but if I had never looked up, I never would have been able to enjoy such a lovely display of God's painting in nature.

With this little reminder to look up, it highlighted to me that we live in a culture that looks downward. We look down at our keyboards to type, down at our phones to scroll, down at the ground to make sure we don't trip, down when we feel defeated and upset. Yes, looking down is important, it is safe, it is predictable. However, we must look up in order to expand our world, to see beyond what is right in front of us, to feel the sunshine on our faces and the rain on our skin. We must look up in order to enjoy the breeze in the air, to see the stars, to watch the freedom of the birds. Everything simplifies when we look up, and it is no exception to remember that God is sitting in Heaven, so we get to look up when we look for Him. In fact, Psalm 121:1-2 states "I lift up my eyes to the hills. From where does my help come? My help comes from the Lord, who made heaven and earth." Here we are reminded that looking up removes us from our own situation and allows us to focus on God. We get to remember that help comes from above, not from within and not from below.

The simple two word phrase is really designed to command us to stop soaking ourselves in the world we live in, to not drown in our situation, but in order to find peace, guidance, and light, we can look to the Lord. We all find ourselves overwhelmed with everything that needs to be done, and with Summertime finally on our doorsteps, we have outside work added to our usual list of indoor maintenance. In this way, it can be easy to get overwhelmed with how much there is that needs to be done, along with the frustration that comes along with any sort of change. It can be quite exciting to be transitioning out of winter and into summer, but there are so many adjustments that come with each season that we can often find ourselves burnt out before it ever really gets started. When we take a moment to step back from focusing so intensely on what is right in front of us and begin to look up and absorb the never-endingness of it all, we can remind ourselves that our God is greater than any kind of change, any overwhelming set of responsibilities, and any frustration we encounter. Our problems shrink when we absorb the vastness of God's love for us, His joy in us being His children, and His grace clothing us from head to toe.

How do we look up when we feel as though we are unable to keep our heads above water? I consider Psalm 3:3-4, which tells us "But You, O Lord, are a Shield about me, my Glory, and the Lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and He answered me from His holy hill." In this verse we are told that God lifts our eyes to see Him, that He will protect us from what threatens to swamp us, and that He will always listen and respond to us when we seek Him out. What a wonderful Lord we have, that He would make such a promise. With God, there is hope, there is trust, and He will never abandon us at any time. Regardless of the noise that fills our ears, the sins that we feel guilty for, the responsibilities that steal all of our time, we are blessed with the promise of hope, protection, and companionship through every single step. God does all of this by first lifting our heads to look at Him. By doing this, we stop looking at ourselves, or at the world around us, and we can remember how small we really are, and how grand the Lord is. Our problems may seem larger than life when we focus so intensely on them, but when we dial in on how overwhelmingly large the Lord is and His love for us, it changes our perspective. We can remove ourselves from our immediate situations and struggles by simply lifting our heads to look for the Lord.

We might sometimes feel out of place, uneasy when we realize how small we are and our problems. I am emphasizing the vastness of God, but want to reassure you that it does not mean that He is too grand to focus on such small creatures such as ourselves. Our smallness is an asset when it comes to leaning into the Almighty grace of God, and is still not a weakness when we consider how powerful He is. If we feel unsteady on our feet when we look upwards, disoriented by how expansive it all is, we can remember Isaiah 40:26, which reads "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." This verse brings us peace when we feel overwhelmed by it all, rather than calmed. God does not miss one tiny detail, and He choreographs every finite second in our lives. The power of His Hands created the sun and moon and stars, and yet He still reaches to touch our souls, hold our hands, and cradle our faces to look up toward Him. We are so very loved by the Lord; He calls us by our name!

Whether we are frustrated, soaked in sorrow or sadness, or simply running from day to day, the message is still the same for us all: look up! God smiles down upon us, welcomes our seeking for Him, and greets us with the reminder that nothing we encounter could be greater than His love for us!