Looking Up

As I write this, I’ve just transferred the grocery bags from my front porch (thank God for Walmart+) to the mat inside our front door. Even now, as I sit outside, I see a football that needs to be put away, a yard that needs to be raked and weeded, a pot of shriveled late-summer plants that need to be put out of their misery, a stoop to sweep, groceries to actually put away, a phone that needs to be set-up, a dishwasher that needs to be unloaded, and clothes that need to be put away in drawers. 

Our to-do lists are outrageous. And enormous to-do lists aren’t inherently bad. But we must fight the extent to which we let our To Do lists distract us from what we Should Do. Our presence to the holy beauty of our lives - like Mary -  must win out over our temptation to get things done at any cost - like Martha. 

Yet, how do we do that? For me, it's the act of writing, or taking pictures, or sitting still in one place with just my thoughts. It's the act of noticing and appreciating and letting the beauty of it all soak deeply into your soul. 

It requires practice. It requires putting down the phone, and closing the tabs on your computer, and looking all around you. Or even better, looking up. Distractions can be best resisted when your soul is looking up at God in the midst of them. 

Psalm 24 is a beautiful song of David that reminds us that the earth and everything in it, is the Lord's. I can almost hear the refrain being sung in ancient Hebrew, "lift up your heads, you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in." 

Distraction forces our heads down - on our to-do lists, on our goals, on our screens, on our productivity. Yet we hinder God from coming in and doing the work He needs to do when we're not gazing upon Him in His beauty and splendor. Why must we spend our days in pursuit of productivity, when our only real satisfaction comes from resting in the One who made it all?