FaithView: May 14, 2010 By Joe Torosian

“I lift up my eyes to the hills--- where does my help come from? My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.” --- Psalms 121: 1-2

Little weird today.

I like the gloom. I like the rain. I love cold gray clouds percolating across the sky. I love wearing a sweater and the subtle sting of cool morning air.

Since I don’t drive for a living, I love the fog as well. Fog and morning mist make my day faster than someone saying; “The lobster is served.”

This morning I got sunshine. What a downer.

I was going down my walkway to the sidewalk, thinking about the stuff I had to do. The stuff I could control and the stuff I couldn’t.

I was thinking about the people I had to call, and the people I didn’t want to call. The situations around me that are troublesome and the situations around me I can do nothing about. Intimate details of others lives I can only surrender to God, when a more carnal nature provokes me to want to ride in like the cavalry.

A lot of thoughts from the front door to the van. To top it off, of course, was the sunshine, the heat of the day creeping in.

Things weren’t shaping up to be a bad day; but an average day I needed to get hold of fast or the ordinary of it was going to overwhelm me.

Then I looked up. The sky was very blue, a few of patches of clouds. Things ticked between the ears and I realized the sky wasn’t just there. It wasn’t just set above as some benign thing.

The non-believer can hold to the sky being a tangible part of the rotating earth formed in some inexplicable way, but the believer knows the sky was set there for a purpose.

I kept looking, drew a breath, and I heard a voice. Not audible, but a voice piping through my bones that said: “What is your problem? Enjoy today.”

Why did the Lord in his creating set the sky above? Because in my/our frailty we can look up and be reminded he is always there.

We have our disciplines down (Bible, prayer, fellowship). Been there, done that, bought that tee-shirt.

We know the kind of attitude we are to have and project. We know the good we must do, even when we don’t want to do it.

And we do all these things because our desire is to be faithful to him who saved us. To him who gave his son for us while we were the worst of folk.

I looked up this morning and I saw the sky. It wasn’t a painted sky. It wasn’t sunrise, sunset; there weren’t any pastel pinks and purples that sometimes give the impression of being the gateway to Heaven.

It was just the sky. Not a burning bush, not the seas parting, not manna falling, or water transforming into wine. It was just the sky.

But on this morning, for me, it was a physical affirmation of who it is I/we need to continue to strive and contend for.

Yes, I/we practice our disciplines because we need the consistency of maintaining our walk with the Lord, but this morning when I looked up, and felt humbled, awed, and invigorated I was reminded of how great our God is.

Yes, that sounds awfully clichéd but it allowed me to feel small. I needed to feel small to again understand my place and his place, to recognize again the bigness of my father in relation to me the adopted son.

The dilemmas, the details, the hassles, the stuff in my life are all still there, including the hurts and struggles of those around me.

Yet the reminder, front and center, loud and clear is none of what we do goes for naught. Because I/we can look up and see how total and complete God is.

“If the spiritual bloom of our life with God is getting impaired in the tiniest degree, we must leave off everything and get it put right. Remember that vision depends on character---the pure in heart see God.” --- Oswald Chambers

I don’t believe we’ll see it, unless we are truly trying to live in his obedience. I don’t believe we’ll see it if we have stalled in our journey with God because we’ve reached a certain point in the road and we our refusing to the more challenging path he’s asked us to take.

And the non-believer isn’t going to see anything more than air.

However, if we are earnest about him we will see and sense great things not as a reward, but as gifts of clarity, peace, and victory.

We can embrace each day, experience each moment, and not fret about all the tomorrows from now until the trumpet sounds because he is always there.

How do I now this?

Well,… I looked up.

Joe T. www.joetorosian.blogspot.com

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