Look Up!

I tend to choose books to read that are hard to read.  That is - they are so full of mindful nuggets of wisdom and thought-provoking subjects, that it takes me (literally) years to get through them. So it is with Joyce Meyer's Battlefield of the Mind.  

One of my favorite verses (I know, I have a lot!) is from Genesis, when Abram was discouraged about his situation.  God told him to take a moment and look all around him...  turn in a circle... do the whole panorama thing...  take it all in... because this was going to be his land.  God promised Abram everything as far as his eye could see. (Genesis 13:14-15) 

A neat point from this passage is that everything around him - all the vast, fertile, beautiful land - that was always there.  But Abram's problem wasn't the existence of it, it was simply seeing it.  Seeing it as the personal promise God gave to him.  

Here's what Joyce Meyer says about it in her book:

This passage clearly reveals that even though Abraham [formerly Abram] found himself in less desirable circumstances... God wanted him to "look up" from that place where he was to the place that He wanted to take him.

...I encourage you to take a positive look at the possibilities of the future... Think and speak about your future in a positive way, according to what God has placed in your heart, and not according to what you have seen in the past or are seeing even now in the present. (pp.195-196)

If you have any experience with dancing, you know that looking at your feet the whole time generally messes you up more than if you just focus on the movement of the person you're dancing with.  I like to think of life as a great dance with God, and as long as I am focused on Him, He whisks me around this dance floor of life with grace and beauty and strength.  

Will you join me on this dance floor, will you look up and into His face?  Will you let Him lead you into all grace and beauty and strength?  I promise the floor is big enough for all of us.