Look up!

When I was on an 8 mile hike yesterday, I learned something… Not something new, but it became real to me in a new way…

We were hiking in the Wichita Mountains Wildlife Refuge. The area where we had chosen to hike is quite rocky (nearly the whole park is quite rocky), and I constantly had to look at my feet to keep from tripping on rocks. I was tired and cold, and I didn’t want to go that far. I wanted to turn around and go back… But we pressed on.

What I discovered as I hiked on… I kept on looking at my feet almost constantly. After all, I didn’t want to trip and fall. But after about 20 minutes of this, I paused to adjust my backpack, and looked around. The scenery was just beautiful! Mountains and trees, and of course big rocks… It was a refreshing view. And then I realized… it had been there the whole time… if I had only looked up…

Throughout the rest of the hike, I made a point of looking at the landscape around me. No longer did I want to turn back. I wanted to press on, and conquer that 8 mile trek through the wilderness… We made it, in less than 3 hours.

Sometimes I look at the path for my feet, and never look up. Oh yes, the Bible says to “Ponder well the path of thy feet,” but that doesn’t mean you can’t look up. And if you always concentrate on the little issues of life, and never look at the big picture: the beauty of Christ’s righteousness… the beauty of Christ’s life… the joy that is set before us… the things that are in store for them that love and serve Him…Then you miss so much of what He has purchased for you at infinite cost…

The beauty is there… if you only look up…