A Reminder to Look Up

Those who know me or have ever seen me in person know that I am "vertically challenged."  That's the nice way of saying I'm short. 

Most of the time this doesn't bother me, probably because I don't think about it too much.  I do tend to get aggravated though when I'm trying to reach for my clean laundry on the pole in our garage that is just a little too high for the vertically challenged.  Just today, I asked my husband first thing when he walked in the door from work if he would help me grab some clean clothes I wasn't about to try to reach myself. 

Another instance that reminded me of my shortness happened recently when I ran a quick errand to the store to pick up a box of pasta we needed for dinner.  It was actually dinner time, and I needed those jumbo shells ASAP.  The only problem was, I couldn't find them.  Anywhere.  I checked the regular pasta and the multigrain pasta and even those cool tri-colored ones that claim to be made of spinach and tomatoes and stuff.  Nowhere.  I must have stood there for at least two minutes reading every pasta name I knew and learning some I'd never even heard before.  Finally, ready to admit defeat, I texted my husband, "Believe it or not, there are no jumbo shells here." I started walking towards the end of the aisle, formulating a plan for the next grocery store I would have to visit, still baffled that this store which always had what I was looking for did not carry jumbo shells.  Just before I left, my stubborn side kicked in and I decided to go back and look one more time. 

Lo and behold, I found those jumbo shells, stocked neatly next to the manicotti.  The difference was, this time I looked up.  They were way above my line of vision on the shelf which is why I'd missed them before.  The amusing thing is that they hadn't moved.  I just adjusted my vision by looking up. 

You know where I'm going with this, don't you?   

So often, we get so hyper-focused on everything that's going on around us, the good, the bad, and the ugly that we forget to look up to see where our help comes from.  

Whom our help comes from.  

I decided to do some research to see if the concept of "looking up" was in the Bible, and I wasn't disappointed!  There are quite a few places where the Bible refers to looking up to find help.  I'll quote my two favorites here. 

"Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of his great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." -Isaiah 40:26


What a beautiful picture is being painted here reminding us that if we look up at nighttime, we'll see the multitude of stars created by the God we serve.  He not only created them, but he knows each one by name.  

Here's another one that I love:

"I lift up my eyes to the mountains--Where does my help come from?  My help comes from the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth."-Psalm 121:1-2

It's cool that the Psalmist asks himself the question of where his help comes from and then answers it in the very next verse.  I find that I need this reminder so often.

When I can't find the box of pasta I'm looking for, Look up!

When I get stuck in the details of a cruddy day, Look up!

When the medical report doesn't look good, Look up!

When I can't figure out God's will for my life, Look up!

I hope that this week, whatever you're facing in your own life, you'll remember where your help comes from.  It's so easy to get bogged down in the details that you forget to look up.  If you need a reminder to do so, just step outside on a clear night and take a nice, long look at the stars, which will force your gaze in the right place.  

Or you could always go hunt down some jumbo shells for me!  




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