When is the last time you went for a walk? I really enjoy going for a nice long walk. Usually, I go out for a couple hours to spend time with God and think about my direction in life. The other day I was walking along and I noticed something quite interesting. What do you usually do when you go for a long walk? I caught myself several times looking down at my feet. Here I am, in a beautiful area, walking along and I’m looking down at my feet. I might as well walk on a treadmill. I found that a lot of us do that when we are going for a walk.
I thought about this for a while (as I was still looking down at my feet.) Along the walk, I walked right into a muddy spot and tripped over several roots in the ground. I thought it was a great way of looking at life! We are so concerned about what we are doing in our exact location that we completely forget to look around at what God has for us. I know in my own life that I have “looked down at the ground” way too much. We miss so much of what’s around us and neglect to get involved. We are so concerned about what is going to happen and what we are going to step in that we don’t take amazing opportunities that are right in front of us.
I’ve learned to stop saying “no” to different opportunities in life because I was too concerned about my “free time”. The more I get involved and surrender my time to others, the more rewarding life seems.
I so often have those days that I get “stuck in the mud.” So many difficult situations happen during the day and it seems like the whole day is ruined. I keep “looking down at my feet” on where I am that day that I forget to look up and see some amazing things that God has so incredibly blessed me with. We stay so focused on on the bad things that are happening during a certain period of time that we forget to look up and see how much God has blessed us.
Most people that know me are familiar with my passion to work with youth and young kids. I long for the day to make that a daily reality in youth ministry. My passion is to tell kids about Christ and to be in the ministry somewhere. However, I am not on that direct path right now. As some people know, I am a law enforcement officer for two agencies. I don’t really get the opportunity to see the good side of people and to tell them about Christ in that field. Don’t get me wrong, I have had some amazing experiences being an officer, but it’s not where God has called me and put this burning passion inside my heart.
This being said, I could be quite discouraged and keep looking down at were I am in life and lose hope in what I want to do in the future. God has taught me so much in looking up at Him that it’s been a blessing to where he has me. I recently was offered and accepted a job as being a sort of tutor for a boy in the fourth grade. The family that offered this job to me is a good Christian family that I attend church with. Now, I’ve only worked with the boy two days, but I absolutely love it. I praise God every day for such an incredible opportunity that he placed in front of me that if I was so focused on looking down in my life, I would have never noticed this!
“Delight yourself in the LORD, and he will give you the desires of your heart.”
~Psalms 37:4~
I don’t believe that looking down at our feet is delighting ourselves in the Lord. It’s focusing too much in what’s going to happen to us and worrying about tripping over some root or stepping in mud instead of focusing on Christ and what He has placed in front of us. So, lets pick up our heads and focus on Christ and give thank to God for whatever we step in.
“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.”
~1 Thessalonians 5:16-18~
Spiritual Followings 