Gazing and Glancing

This isn’t called the ‘silly season’ for nothing. In the U.S. it’s mostly the craziness of just finishing Thanksgiving and moving right along to all things Christmas. In New Zealand it’s also the end of the school year and the final push before summer holidays. Lots going on, lots to do for all of us!

Yesterday I drove our boys down to the mall to get their Christmas shopping done before it gets even more busy. While zooming around on a mission to tick things off my list, I walked by a lady sitting at a small portable table beside a Christmas tree. My eye caught the word ‘Hospice’ and after my feet walked about ten more paces, my brain registered the word and I spun to go back. Hospice is something that will now forever be close to my heart as they just walked beside my folks in the last months of my dad’s life. And he had just been gone to Heaven a couple of hours shy of two weeks at that moment. I put what cash I had into a bucket, silently wrote a note to my dad on a paper shaped like an ornament, and put it on the tree.

I almost missed what I think was one of the most meaningful-to-me things that I’ll do this Christmas. A reminder of how two realms collide. One I can see and one I cannot. One where life gets hectic and is frequently painful and one where there is peace, hope and everlasting joy. My dad was just here—and now he’s there.

Kind of like a baby who did just the opposite and came from there to here and a manger so many years ago.

It’s a reminder to stop looking so much at the here and now. And while we need to process it and deal with it, to stop letting ourselves be ruled by hurt and pain. To stop looking so much at the problem and remember the Solution.

“Gaze at Me; glance at problems….Your tendency is to gaze at the problems for prolonged periods of time, glancing at Me for help.”  -Sarah Young

A couple of verses come to mind about this:

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith…” Hebrews 12:2

“Cast your cares on the LORD and he will sustain you..” Psalm 55:22

‘Fix’ and ‘cast’ are action verbs. They demonstrate force and mindful intent, not passivity. They require intellectual determination and discipline to do. They inspire mental pictures of the doing. “Fix” those eyes unwavering to a Worthy Face no matter what else is attracting your gaze. “Cast” that burden with all your might over your shoulder and let it go.

They are choices of mindfulness that have long reaching impact on our minds, hearts and spirits. They are actions that cause consequences–good ones! They are a step of faith that place our trust in God, not in our own strength and abilities. The Creator God is so much stronger and smarter than I am! He it trustworthy. He is kind.

God answers with action verbs of His own like:

“The Lord gives strength to his people; the Lord blesses his people with peace.” (Psalm 29:11)

“I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” (Isaiah 41:10)

“For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only son.” (John 3:16)

The Bible is FULL of action verbs like these. Full of promises from the One who is always faithful.

So in this season let’s not be passively bustled along. Let’s actively ‘fix our eyes’ on Him and ‘cast (our) cares.’ Let’s not miss the secret moments that make this season and the rest of the year worthwhile.

Immanuel. God with us. He’s here—and the veil between what we can see and what we cannot see is thin.