Why, my soul, are you downcast? Why so disturbed within me? Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise him, my Savior and my God.
Psalm 42:5
Have you ever swum underwater with goggles? I remember my first time like it was yesterday. Growing up in Florida, I was in the water more than dry land it seemed. We were coastal kids. Pools, lakes, and ocean fronts were our playground. One summer afternoon, my dad came through the door with a few pairs of goggles. Not the Olympic swimmer kind that look like glasses from the future (or maybe the past). These were the ones that cover your whole face with a snorkel strapped to the side. He tossed them to my brother, sister, and me and we all made a mad dash for the pool. With the goggles suctioned-cupped to my face, I jumped. My body took its instinctual cannon ball shape and before I knew it, I was underwater. I had done this thousands of times before, but this time it was different. I could see. Clear as day. It was a whole new world. Well, it had always been there, but now I could see it. Perspective is powerful; at least, Jesus seemed to think so. He spent so much of His time and energy helping people wake up to a new way of thinking, seeing and living. He saw through the setting or circumstance and went straight for the heart. We see this most often in His parables. The Master takes everyday situations and flips them upside-down and inside-out, with each story causing you to think rethink, reexamine and relearn what it means to be human. Jesus wasn’t only concerned about getting you into heaven, He also wanted to get heaven into you. As followers of Jesus, we don’t get to know the details of every chapter of this story, but we do know the ending. In light of where we believe this is all going, we’ve got to let that inform the way we view our life right now. It's all praise.
every breath it is a gift / every moment is a treasure / every table is a feast / every heartbeat is an alter
I fix my eyes upon you