As I ran this morning, I discovered a tendency that permeates far more of my life than just those quiet morning moments on the pavement.  I have recently found the most delightful route. It’s beautiful, quite scenic, placid and peaceful, and usually in the morning just after the sun has begun to rise across the sky. I chose it for these very reasons.

I was halfway through all that gloriousness when I realized that I had not lifted my eyes off of the sidewalk even once to behold this beauty I profess to enjoy so.  

It is totally logical, even sensible to watch the ground in front of you as you run, especially on sidewalks as you often encounter uneven slabs and pine cones and litter.  These things can turn an ankle if you don’t know to avoid them.  I tend to keep my eyes down, lost in my head and scanning for the pitfalls that may await me.  

Many years ago I took a picture of this wonderful man in Haiti feeding a toddler.  His name is Jimmy.  He’s a pretty big guy, but the most gentle servant there ever was.  He stood behind the child with his left hand beneath the boys chin and his right holding a spoon full of oatmeal.  It was so tender and moving to watch.  The little boy merely had to open his mouth to receive what was placed there before him.

Far too often I profess to have come to the table while stubbornly, blindly, methodically refusing to lift my eyes to the provisions just inches from my lips.  

When you open your hand, they are satisfied with good things.                                    Psalm 104:28

We do this in everyday life.  We go to church and we go to our knees and we ask the Lord for His provisions and blessings and we confess the needs of our days and lives.  Then when He puts His hand beneath our chins to raise our eyes to receive that for which we have asked, we press against Him or deny the sensing at all.  And we continue to sit hungry and needy and wishing for that which we continue to long for–never realizing how incredibly near it is to us.  

We do this in moments of rest and vacation.  We go somewhere beautiful, peaceful, restorative, but we never lift our eyes to behold the beauty we’ve come to see.  We allow our sights to be hampered by the anxiety over what may lie ahead, by the exhaustion of just putting one foot before the other, by the habit of keeping our nose to the grindstone.  And all the beauty we’ve gone to behold is left to rise and set unbeheld.

We do this at Christmas.  We don’t want to ‘miss it.’ We try to slow down and ‘catch it.’ We know, we sense, we believe there is this great thing that the season has to offer us and we try in so many ways to encounter it fully or at all.  We put our heads down and press on as if we think we’ll eventually run headlong into it.

I can run with my eyes down and there is a certain amount of wisdom in that.  But if I never lift my eyes, I miss all that is so breathtaking just inches above my lowered lids.  And then the snare of vigilance, watchfulness, fear, anxiety, and control have their way and I live the cautious life.  And miss everything that is beautiful.  

I felt His hand today.  I heard Him say my name and call me to behold the greatness He had drawn me there to witness.  It was an incredible morning; the veiled sun, the fountain in the middle of the pond, the last changing leaves dangling from the otherwise barren trees, a horse in the far field, the breath of wind on my face, and the awareness of His hand beneath my chin.  

Sometimes we go so long without looking up, Lord, that our necks seem stuck in a paralysis of control and shortsightedness.  We spend our days watching for danger zones, trying to avoid the problem spots, laboring to put one foot before the other, watching the methodical drop of our own futile footfalls.  As the gentle servant You are, lift our eyes to You today.  Let us feel Your tender provision and Presence.  And make us aware of all that is miraculously ours just inches from our lips as You lift our faces to You.  May we fully take in all that You desire to reveal to and provide for us this season.