Raised Their Eyes
Look up! It’s time to look up!
Like the Disciples in this scripture, I am in awe of God’s brilliance! It can be overwhelming when you first encounter God’s abundance. Mostly, because I didn’t do anything to deserve it, I just showed up and looked up!
People have shared with me that they have become paralyzed by God because of his love, grace and mercy is too hard to accept. They have never experienced the type of unconditional acceptance God gives.
Like the Disciples on the mountain, we are lucky to have Jesus there to journey with us and help us understand God in his human form. Through Jesus, we are able to see how God loves people despite any faults or sins, how he shows mercy to those who are lost or lonely or hurting and how grace heals. It is shown to us over and over in the stories and parables of the Bible!
In addition to having Jesus with us on this journey, we have the bonus of the gifts of the Holy Spirit to give us the strength, understanding, courage, etc to do what God calls us to do. Of course, these gifts are free but the key is we need to accept them AND open them in order to use them!
Yes, it can be difficult at times NOT to allow the pressures and stress of the world to weigh me down and cause me to divert my eyes from God to my worries or my agenda. When I look down, I lose focus on my path and even sometimes lose sight of God because I have allowed other things to block my view.
I think of this scripture often because I’ve been on retreats and attended conferences and had family moments when I’ve been in their shoes and feel I am on the top of the world, filled with God and so joyful that I just want to pitch a tent and stay there forever! However, those disciples have the responsibility to take that feeling of fullness of God to others and so do I. I can’t just sit there and hold the goodness inside and not share it; God didn’t only create me and Jesus didn’t die just for me!
So my task and yours too is to go out and live our lives with our eyes raised up. Then when we find those who have lost their way or are looking down, it’s our job to share the brilliance of God on them. When we carry the light with us and continue to stay connected to God so we can be filled, there is no stopping us. And I believe the more we do this, the closer we come to creating heaven on earth!
