It Matters Where We Look

 

It matters where we look. Whether we fix our gaze on the lovely or the ugly. But lately there has been a lot of ugly. Ok, there has been ugly since the beginning of time. But now we can see ugly faster and from further away and in larger doses than ever before.

 

Sometimes the ugliness inspires us to rise and fight against it.

Sometimes the ugliness shuts us down into a hole of silence.

Sometimes the ugliness unsettles us, not quite knowing how to respond.

 

Most of us have experienced all three this year, but those unsettled moments are often triggered when people like us do ugly things. The “like us” could be gender, age, race, or faith. When it is our faith, as Christians, we carry the same name, so our name gets tarnished when any of us act ugly. When we snap at the store clerk while wearing a Jesus T-shirt. When we carry signs with His name while being destructive and violent. When we interchange earthly kingdoms with His kingdom.

 

If you have never believed in Jesus Christ, I pray you will still consider giving him a look, even if you have seen some of His followers act ugly. Know that not everyone professing His name is a perfect follower. In fact, none of us are. He loves us no matter how bad we have been. And while bad behavior is never justified, Jesus’ grace is the very core of what we believe.

 

Maybe you have once believed in Jesus Christ but have stopped following Him because you’ve been hurt by His people or have been disgusted with the hypocrisy. I pray you will reconsider allowing Him to be King of your life even in this imperfect family by looking at Him more than the family.

 

And if you are a believer accepting His grace when you mess up, but feeling embarrassed when others do, may I encourage you to shift your focus. An old hymn recently revived says to turn your eyes on Jesus. Look full in His wonderful face. Then the things of this world will grow strangely dim.

…let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, … [Heb12:1-2, NKJV]

 

Looking towards Jesus does not mean we have to put our heads in the sand or ignore the news, although you may feel you need to for a season. We are called to live in this world, lovely and ugly, by dimming down the ugliness. And we can dim it by looking at Him and the loveliness of His light. It matters where we look.

5 Ways to Move This Year

At the dawn of a new year we make our resolutions or we set goals or we pick our one word to guide us. Whatever your method, this is your new chance for better choices, for doing hard things, for cutting yourself some slack, for intentionally not doing some things.

If I were going to have a word this year – and I’m not, because I love words so much I cannot pick just one – but if I were, my word would be MOVE. 

Here are five ways you can MOVE this year.

MOVE your body - I want to keep moving physically. Walking, my exercise of choice, was curtailed last year by a sprained ankle that required months to full healing. Now I am better and fired up to move more again. And just between us, during last year’s staying at home adventure, I was known to turn up the music and do a little dancing. No one needs to watch you move for it to really happen.

MOVE your relationships - Create new ones, nourish old ones. My pandemic caution messed with my plan to make new friends in a new city, neighborhood and church family. Without throwing caution to the wind, I will move toward new social circles this year. You do not need to be a social butterfly to move your relationships. You can be a caterpillar and still have friends.

MOVE your space - Your furniture. Your house. Your day trips. Your vacations. Move your spaces around enough to experience the new and different. Travel is a big piece of my life pie in this phase of life. Last year we cancelled six trips that carried more risk than we were willing to take. This year we will get our vaccines and travel more again.

MOVE your mind - Funny that I once thought I would get another degree or two when I retired, worried that the absence of career would mean atrophy of the brain. I might still go back to school someday, but so far I have not felt one inkling of inspiration to work that hard yet! However, I have become a big fan of podcasts, documentaries, and virtual courses. So I will keep moving my brain to broaden knowledge and moving my mind to see things from a different perspective.

MOVE your Spirit - I never want to stop moving spiritually.  I believe there is much virtue in the old church adage ‘just keep on keeping on.’ Sometimes our walk with God is about just staying faithful in our spiritual practices and habits. But it’s easy to stagnate there. I want to grow further in Christ.

So then, just as you have received Christ Jesus as Lord, continue to walk in him, being rooted and built up in him and established in the faith, just as you were taught, and overflowing with gratitude. [Col 2:6-7, CSB]

This scripture seems to get the balance about right with ‘being rooted AND built up.’ Be rooted, yes. Be established, yes. Continue doing what we’ve done before, yes. But do not stay in the same place. Build your spiritual self. Find new truths. Trust anew in old promises. Serve in new ways. Love more.

Keep moving! In spirit, body, mind, relationships, and spaces.