The View from Up There

"Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens." Psalm 123:1 

 Good morning, dear friends,

 The house was quiet this morning, very quiet.

For the first time since we arrived home on Monday from camp, everyone was still asleep when I got up. (To be fair, my kids have always been early risers.  7:30 for them is sleeping in. I'll take what I can get.)

As I woke up this morning, it was a beautiful day outside, and I wanted to be a part of it. One of my favorite parts of summer vacation is getting up and going for a walk before the craziness of the day starts.  I grabbed my phone, laced up my tennis shoes, and headed out to my favorite walking path.

 Things have been so crazy this week, coming back from camp and trying to reestablish a routine, even a vacation one.  Before I realize it, school will be upon us again, and all of life's craziness.  I needed just a few minutes this morning to collect my thoughts, reestablish my priorities, and figure out how to make the rest of this summer fun and productive for everyone.

 Needless to say, my mind was running in fifty different directions at once, as I was praying, thinking, and planning, and then praying, thinking and planning some more.  I desperately needed some direction, some focus, some wisdom, and the more I walked, the more all the craziness of my life right now spun around in my head.

Instead of answers, I had more questions.

Instead of clarity, all I had was more confusion and  conflicting goals.

I had spent so much time and energy with my thoughts tumbling in every direction as I walked, that my eyes were focused on my feet and the next few feet in front of me.  As I approached the first field on my walk this morning, and my eyes finally left the ground, I noticed a giant hot air balloon filling the sky right in front of me.

How had I missed that?

 My focus was on the ground, and not upward.

 The Lord gently reminded me, that although my feet are firmly planted on the ground in this life, my eyes need to be focused elsewhere.

 I do not like heights, as a general rule. I have been up to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and had to be coaxed out of the elevator. (OK, my hands had to be pried off the handrails, but I digress.) So, being in a hot air balloon will never make it on my bucket list or any other list for that matter.

 But I could not help but wonder, how different the view from "up there" must be.

 The world seems less complicated and much neater, from up there.

 My house and all its preoccupations must seem so small, from up there.

And from up there, I must be a tiny, insignificant speck.

 How different the view of my life is, when viewed from "up there."

 As I returned from my walk this morning, I was reminded of many verses in the Bible that remind me, in difficult times, in times of uncertainty or decision making, to look up:

 For help:  "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills, from whence cometh my help." (Psalm 121:1)

 For reassurance:  "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens." (Psalm 123:1)

 For refocusing my attention on God:  "Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things, that bringeth out their host by number: he calleth them all by names by the greatness of his might, for that he is strong in power; not one faileth." (Isaiah 40:26)

 The more my eyes are focused here on earth, the more I will see of my problems and fears, and the less I will see of God's greatness and glory.  May the Lord help me to direct my eyes, and my prayers, upward, as my feet walk firmly along the ground.

 How different my perspectives on life will be, if I will just take the time to look up...