Have you ever just been walking to a destination and eventually when you get there you think to yourself, “How did I get here?” What I mean is I realized that when I walk I often just look down to the ground and go on autopilot to my destination. This usually happens when I’m walking to familiar places so I can only be sorta focused and I can still get there. To be a little transparent sometimes I feel that way when I’m driving… Don’t judge I know you have been there too! Well here’s my point. I realized that when I walk I look down. By doing this I realized I miss out on the journey, by being inwardly focused which then makes me become complacent. Really missing out on things is the fruit of complacency so it’s pretty much it’s all tied and connected to each other.
I say all this because for the past week and a half or so I’ve been walking on average 14 miles or so a day. Right now my team and I are on the Camino De Santiago In Spain. One of the things that God has been highlighting for me is the application of living life daily for God. Learning to trust God daily, walk with Him daily and worship Him daily. (See my previous blog) Well as I begin each day I usually hope to start it by thanking God and just inviting Him into those 3 things and just get the day going. One day as I was walking God just gentle nudge me and said, “Why do you walk with your head down?” I began to ponder and was confused but eventually I realized.. Yep.. I do walk looking down. So as I continued talking and listening to the Lord He showed me that by looking down 2 things happen. I begin to first be too inwardly focused that I become controlled by my situations and feelings and end up becoming a victim to them. The fruit of that then becomes complacency and apathy that I’m not focused on what’s in front of me. Following this train of thought I was reminded of the Bridge of a song and it says,
“It’s a New Horizon and I’m set on You, and You meet me here today, with mercies that are new. All my fears and doubts, they can all come too, because they can’t stay long when I’m here with You.”
What the Father was speaking to me was the idea of perspective. The idea of perseverance. The idea of hope and joy. The idea that in Jesus there’s always a New Horizon and there’s always abundance. The Father’s one Desire is that His children would have life- that they would know love, experience peace, be filled with hope, and walk in joy and freedom. As I walk on the Camino God is wanting me to enjoy Him fully, enjoy the Camino fully, and the people around me fully. I realized I can’t do these things when I’m looking down. When I’m too inwardly focused I miss out on things. It’s as simple as missing out on a beautiful view or missing out on a new friend to talk to. So if I began to look to Jesus then I’ll begin to see the New Horizon. I’ll began to see what’s around me, who’s around me and instead of becoming a victim to my emotions I end up choosing the hope and newness of Jesus in all things. I love what Ephesians says,
“for at one time you were darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Walk as children of light”
Ephesians 5:8 ESV
Walking as a child of God is so powerful. It comes from a place of being rooted and grounded in the Father’s heart, His love. No matter what we are facing emotionally or physically, God is ready to help us shift our focus on Him and see the opportunity. (Check out an earlier blog of mine called / interruption or opportunity?) The Father’s heart is so for us to understand what Jesus said in John 10:10;
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10 ESV
This doesn’t mean that our lives are full of “rainbows and butterflies,” but it means that we don’t need to walk with our head down. God has so much for us when our heads are up. When looking up, it’s an invitation for God to love on us and in a response we love the people around us. By looking up we can simply enjoy the chapter of life we are in. There’s a reason why you are where you are. I challenge you and myself to become a people that has a hope in Jesus.
““I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”” John 16:33 NIV
Even on this Camino where I’m walking miles and miles a day, traveling with only a guitar, living on 5 bucks a day, getting blisters, knee problems, each day is different, living with the same people; with all of these going it can be easy to miss the point. It can become easy to be a victim and become inwardly focused. But here on the Camino God has placed me to fall more in love with Him and be a light to His people who are in search of something that is really God Himself. So my challenge for these next couple of weeks is to look up and see the adventure and opportunity that’s in front of me.
