Back in January, I did battle with a nasty case of bronchitis that had me coughing so much and for so long that people started to be able to recognize that it was me walking down the street by the way I was covering my cough (lookin’ at you, boss). Since that time, I’ve had some pain in my upper chest that I can’t seem to get rid of. After a scan to make sure that my lungs are healthy and in good shape (which they are), it’s been determined…by literally the BEST doctor ever…that I must’ve given myself some kind of musculoskeletal injury in all the coughing. Treatment plan: Lots of stretching for those muscles, and working on improving my posture. Improving my posture is going to be the hardest thing. I’ve only spent 25 years working on the one I’ve got. Now I have to start all over. It’s a fix that’s going to require a lot of self-awareness (Sit up straight, you lazy bum!), and it’s also going to require me to look up.
Look up. Seems simple enough. But you see, I’ve developed this bad habit of looking down at the ground, especially as I walk. Maybe it’s because I trip enough just over my own feet, and I don’t really need uneven sidewalks and pinecones to help me. But it doesn’t really matter why I look down. In order to fix my posture, it’s something I have to change. I have to look up.
Looking up can be a powerful thing. In a literal sense, looking up better connects you with the world and the people in it. It’s really easy to walk past a person without making eye contact, right? I mean, sure, you’re aware they’re coming, but you stay to the right and they stay to the right, and you don’t actually have to acknowledge each other once you’ve moved out of their way. Or you go into your favorite coffee shop and order your drink while staring at the menu the whole time. Or worse…staring at your phone the whole time. Looking down put the emphasis on self. I look down while I walk to make sure I’M ok. I look down at my phone in case someone is trying to talk to ME. What if, instead, we were looking up? We could give that person moving in the opposite direction a cheerful “Good morning!” We could read the nametag of the person behind the counter and address them by name. Literally looking up shifts our focus off ourselves, and gives us the power to engage with the world around us.
This week, we’ll be listening to For King and Country’s “Fix My Eyes on You,” for a picture of what it may look like when our focus is in the right place. In Colossians, Paul writes, “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth,” (3:2) and in Philippians, “Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. What you have learned and received and heard and seen in me—practice these things, and the God of peace will be with you.” (4:8-9) Our study this week will look at these verses as a clear explanation of where our focus should be. Together with the song, we hope to understand a little better how God can use us in the world, if we’re just willing to look up.
Side note: to read more about how we, as Christians, can engage culture and the world, check out www.cultureencounter.com to follow along with St. Andrews summer sermon series, fittingly titled “Culture Encounter.”