Trying to Find It

When I left Daytona Beach to finish my college degree in Nashville, Tennessee, I was enrolled at Lipscomb University. It is a Christian school and I had certain expectations about the culture I was stepping into. As someone who had struggled to maintain a commitment to a Christian way of life, I expected it would be easier to stay focused on this campus. I mentioned this to a friend of mine (who had also attended Lipscomb) and he shared a thought with me I have never forgotten. He said, "Craig, you will find what you look for." He wasn't trying to discourage me, but wanted to give realistic counsel. Everything I might want to see is available depending on how diligently I'm willing to search.

That principle is still true today. Despite what our social media feeds and news headlines might tell us, there is still a lot of good in our world if we look for it. If we only want to focus on the negative and complain about what's wrong, there will be plenty of that available as well. It's up to us as individuals to decide what we want to search for and how we want to see things. The people and circumstances in our lives will be partially defined by how we view them. What we find depends on what we seek.

Look Up

I do most of my running in the early morning or later at night these days. I enjoy being out when it's dark and having a fairly quiet run from a traffic perspective. My route takes me through our down town area and around several parts of the local colleges. I run on the sidewalk quite a bit, but have to be diligently observant as they are very uneven. There aren't many completely flat stretches of concrete and when it's dark I have to be extra sure of my footing. Since I don't want to face plant on the road I keep my vision focused downward several feet in front of me for safety.

I came off the sidewalk the other morning and was on the road which is much smoother. Out of my regular habit, I glanced up was entranced by simple beauty of the sky. There was a partial moon shining down on me and without any cloud cover the stars were brilliantly clear. I had to take a longer look and smiled as I admired the picture overhead. If I hadn't bothered to glance up, I never would have noticed it even though it was there to be seen.

How often do we keep our eyes downward and miss out on things of beauty, relevance, and encouragement? Are we so intently focused on where our next step will be that we miss out on the parts of life happening around us? Do we fear taking a misstep so much we fixate on the safety of where we are going and forget that taking a risk now and then can actually enrich our lives? I don't advocate running full speed with your eyes only on the sky, but we need to change where we are looking now and then if we truly want to experience life.

Looking Up

When we meet with our life group every other week I open the discussion with an extremely difficult question. We begin by asking each person to share their "high moment" from the week-describing something that was the best part of what they experienced. In all of my experiences in groups this is one of the most difficult questions to ask. It makes each of us carefully analyze our week and find something positive to share. Honestly, there are some weeks (and months) where this is more difficult than others. We struggle through the past seven days to find a highlight that is worth sharing. Sometimes it is a monumental event that we can't wait to talk about and other times we are sifting through the refuse of a nasty week to dig out a small morsel to cling to. The benefit of the exercise is that it gets us to open up to our group, but most importantly it is for us to see that God is doing something positive in each of our lives if we would take the time to find it.