“I can see how it might be possible for a man to look down upon the earth and be an atheist, but I cannot conceive how he could look up into the heavens and say there is no God.”  ~ Abraham Lincoln

Lately I've developed an ugly habit: looking down all the time. I mean literally looking down when I walk. Half the battle is having noticed it, now I"m working on stopping it. 

It didn't used to always be this way. 

My childhood including lots of time gazing upward. Summers as a child equalled lots of outside time. Riding bikes. Exploring the city. Getting wet in the sprinklers and lying on the grass looking up at the sky. Watching birds take flight. Planes in the distance and pointing out shapes in formless clouds. The sky used to be my friend. The place where dreams where born and where daydreams lived.

The other day I got stuck in LA traffic. An accident slowed down my normally free-flowing commute. While trying to remain patient I just happened to catch a glimpse up at the blue Southern California sky. Oh what a sight to behold. Immediately something happened. My heart got a little light. The tension eased up. My perspective change by simply looking up. Then I realized I haven't done that in ages: look up. It was refreshing.

Most of my time is spent looking around me at my circumstances, at what is in front of me, at what is troubliing me.  Evangelist Billy Graham once said:  “Believers, look up -- take courage. The angels are nearer than you think.” I'm sure the angels circle me and wonder why in the world I waste my time looking down when my perspective could so easily change just by looking up.

Jesus healed a blind man in Mark 8:  "Then He put His hands on his eyes again and made him look up. And he was restored and saw everyone clearly." (Mark 8:25) The man had been touched once but his vision was blurry. After being urged to look up, not only did his vision come back but "he was restored" and saw clearly.

Praise break right there! 

Looking up clears up our vision and restores our whole being.

Let that sink in. It's so easy to get bogged down by looking at what's going on around us, but even easier to simply look up. 

So I'm dedicating myself to looking up. Hard work for a neck that's has a natural bent toward the ground. And I'm encouraging my soul, my prayers..my whole being to look up as well.

"My voice You shall hear in the morning, O Lord; In the morning I will direct it to You, And I will look  up." Psalm 5:3