Look

Last Saturday I spent the morning helping to clean our neighborhood pool for the summer. It was messy but I seriously enjoyed every minute. I got to spend time working with other people toward a common goal, which is almost always a good investment. The goal to reopen the pool wasn’t bad either. I have always loved water. I’m a pretty good swimmer but far from “polished.” While most people close their eyes, I like to swim with my eyes open. That somewhat less common approach to swimming offers me a unique perspective.

When you put your head underwater and look up, everything above the water line is blurry and unrecognizable.  When you raise your head up and your eyes break the plane, everything above comes into focus instantly.  What is still below the surface of the water is a little less recognizable.

Hope has been on my mind a lot the last few weeks.  When we have hope we tend to take it for granted and when we are lacking, it’s pretty obvious we need it.  Hope, while absolutely essential, can at times be difficult to see.  Often it’s the things right in front of us that are most distracting.  If you find yourself looking for hope, you don’t have to look too far, but you may have to shift your focus away from what is draining your soul.  Hope is all around us—Jesus made sure of that promise.  Sometimes it gets a little blurry, but if we get our head in the right spot it becomes abundantly clear.  

One of my favorite lines is in a song called “Wonder” by Hillsong United, “and the blindness meets the light.” God is showing us great stuff, inspiring “wonder,” all the time but we have to shift our focus to see it.

Open your eyes and allow God’s Kingdom to come into focus.  The “distractions” will become less pronounced and you will find yourself lost in God’s wonder.  It is here that we all can find Hope in abundance.

“He did this so that we, who have taken refuge in God, can be encouraged to grasp the hope that is lying in front of us.” ‭‭Hebrews‬ ‭6:18‬