Look Up
On a free day from school, Makayla and I were looking for something to do and decided to go to Target. We were searching for a frisbee, a fun skill she wants to master, and the next book in a series with which she is currently obsessed. Sauntering up and down the aisles, I found myself in household electronics, staring up at this massive 96-inch Smart TV that seemed to span the entire wall. It looked like a piece of artwork with all those vibrant and brilliant colors. I actually had to move my head right and left just to take it all in. Makayla’s take was different. She looked at the sale price saying, “Wow, that TV cost less than an iPhone.” That kind of surprised me, glancing at the price. “Huh, how about that.” I marveled at her perspective as I glanced down to the screen in my hand then up to the one on the wall. If truth be told, she’d prefer having her own iPhone than a TV; prices are important to her.
In another life, Jen and I lived in Austria, a fairy tale land of castles and cathedrals. Saint Stephansdom sits in the center of Vienna, a huge stone cathedral whose weight is so immense that the plaza surrounding it is visibly sunken, like one standing on a trampoline. The tourists who walk near are always looking up, some even lying down on their backs to capture a perspective photo on their phones.
Even more impressive are the high vaulted ceilings inside, highlighted with intricate stained-glass windows. Again, no one looks down, all eyes are up. That’s by design. When sunlight streams through the glass, a beautiful glow fills the space, illustrating Bible stories and characters in beautiful colored pictographs. This illumination used to be thought to be a type of manifestation of God. I wonder how many mothers quieted children by pointing up to the images shining with light, how many kids imagined Jesus, the apostles, or other biblical scenes staring up in such places. A proper distraction if ever there was one.
A Cathedral calls to something higher in the human spirit, like a majestic mountain range commands our attention or the detail of a Monet demands our appreciation; they lift the focus upwards and toward a God that is all knowing, powerful and present.
Different days hold different gazes. Often these days, our chins rest on our chests as we scroll or text on our phones. A world of wonder is more accessed looking down rather than up. We experience most things in self-selected ways. Millions, during these quarantined days, have traveled the world on their screens, never leaving their homes. We’re filling our senses all right, but rarely with living experiences. Experience has been replaced with knowledge, and they are not the same thing.
I saw it around the Thanksgiving table, kids bent over texts or scrolling for answers to conversational questions. Our sampling can feel like experiencing. However, when my dad started telling stories about growing up and working on the farm, milking cows, shoveling manure, or pulling pranks in college, all eyes popped up and listened. It suddenly got real. Life experience was speaking.
In the last decade, a new medical condition called “text neck” has arisen. It’s spine pain resulting from repeated hours of being stationary while crimping our necks. Experts say our obsession of looking down at screens is the culprit. It’s the unreported pandemic affecting more than we think. We’re all guilty, I’m sure.
Lately, I’ve heard the Lord speaking to my heart, saying, “Out of the most distracted generation in human history, I’m raising up testimonies of deep pure devotion. It will be proof that I am the worthiest obsession of the human heart.”
That feels like a call to look up, a call of hope. It might feel like a tall order in the fractured world we see about us today, but God seems to do His best framing in the midst of chaos. I’m asking Him to do exactly that in me.
“If you look at the world, you’ll be distressed, if you look within, you’ll be depressed, if you look up to God, you’ll be at rest."
- Corrie Ten Boom
Perspective frames things. Counting the cost frames things. Looking up rather than down frames things. What’s framing you today?