Keep Looking Up

 

Magnifying What Matters

Have you ever looked - really looked - at something you've seen many times before, and noticed something new? 

Landmarks on familiar routes we've traveled many times before that suddenly seem to jump out and make me wonder how I never really noticed them before; the way trees awake in the Spring from their Winter slumber, in a pastel palette that mimics the rainbow of changing leaves in the Fall, but in the season's own unique array of subtler shades; the growing number of white flecks in the muzzle of our faithful dog, that betray his vigor and puppy-like attitude and remind us he, too, is getting older - there is so much you notice when you're really looking, that goes unrecognized in the passing glances we offer so many moments of our lives.

It's the same with the intangible things. Those challenges and obstacles and disappointments that swerve us off our preferred or planned paths, they become highly detailed and so crisply clear that their every aspect becomes piercing edges stabbing into our peace of mind, when we are looking only at them. How easy it is to hold the magnifying glass over our troubles, and let the myriad blessings that outweigh them blur into a haze at the outer edges of our thoughts and feelings while we focus solely on the problem and how we might solve it. 

This past week, as Farmer Husband and I faced some uncomfortable challenges, I let my mind's magnifying glass grow larger over the problems, and push the positives to the out-of-focus outer edges of my thoughts. The mire gets really thick and sticky, and it's easy to lose your footing when you're always looking down at what ails you. It gets exhausting.

But:

"The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing."

~Zephaniah 3:17

He will quiet you with His love - quiet the thoughts ruled by your troubles, and save you from your problems by pulling your focus upward, moving the magnifying glass back onto what matters. As I grew too tired to carry the worries of the week any longer, and shifted my focus, I began to notice things that had escaped my perception for days. So this weekend amid the many chores and activities that occupied much of our time, I purposely slowed down and took some quiet moments to just be, and really look around me, at something other than the problems we were facing. 

And what I noticed was blessing upon blessing: steadily growing goat kids with shiny coats and bright eyes; 2 healthy heritage turkey hens and one proud, strutting tom promising a plethora of poults next Spring; the giggles of grandbabies during Farmer Husband's facetime with them; the sunshine and warm temperatures we're still experiencing in late September here in Michigan...and the steady, true devotion and love of the man whose wedding band matches mine.   

This morning as a new work week begins, some of the same old obstacles have come stepping into it, and new ones are likely waiting just out of view. But as long as we keep looking up, we'll be able to magnify what matters, and swim in a sea of blessings instead of losing our boots in the mud.