Have you seen the YouTube video, “Look Up”? My friend shared it with me a couple of days ago. If you haven’t gotten to see it, here it is:
Powerful, right?
But it’s only TRULY powerful if it impacts us and makes us change the way we think after we walk away from the screen.
I had an experience yesterday that showed me that it did, indeed, have that kind of impact on me.
I boarded my plane home yesterday, sweetly exhausted after a wonderful visit. My plan was to find my seat by the window and nestle into the quiet rest of seclusion. A good book and the hope of a short nap.
As I walked down the aisle and approached seat 6E, I breathed a sigh of relief. From of the looks of it, I was going to be sitting next to someone who I ASSUMED would have no interest in talking to me. A conclusion that I came to only stereotypically, based only on the typical prototype.
To explain, while many people find it easy to sit next to strangers on a plane in complete silence, I do not. All that seems to flash in front of me is the word, OPPORTUNITY. As a result, Jesus and I always have this conversation before I get on a plane – Me: I’m ready if You have someone sit next to me who needs a little encouragement or a listening ear. Jesus: Okay, I’ll let you know.
But yesterday, I felt too tired and spent to engage in any meaningful conversation with a stranger. “Please, Jesus, just a book-reading, headphones-on type person today, okay?”
So when I saw who my seat mate was, I did a mental happy dance, based solely on my selfish desire to be left alone and my snap judgment of who this person was.
Dead wrong.
From the moment he got out of his seat to let me in, he was congenial. Dang.
Still determined to plant my face in a book until my eyelids dropped in surrender to my weariness, I put on my seat belt and turned to the dog-eared page of my novel.
And then the image of that blasted video showed up on the pages of my book. “Look up!” It was undeniable and I suddenly realized that it wasn’t just the video that was telling me this, it was God Himself. Jesus, letting me know, like He said He would.
Grrrrrr…..
Sure enough, this young dad wanted to talk, to show me pictures and videos of his precious daughter, to tell me about where he worked (in Pleasanton of all places!). For some reason I will probably never know, he needed to talk a bit. To be heard. To brag about this little girl that has won his heart. To share that his wife is pregnant again.
The conversation never went much deeper than that. Apparently, it wasn’t meant to. And that’s okay. I wasn’t meant to be the one talking. Just the one listening this time. I needed to “look up” long enough to see the person, the REAL person and not just my perception of who that person was. I needed to push past my selfish desire for seclusion and open both my eyes and my ears to what was around me, who was sitting next to me.
I don’t think I changed this young man’s life yesterday. But I think that I changed a little tiny bit. And I think that each of those little changes in me can result in impacting my world a little bit more. Showing God’s much needed love a little bit more.
Looking up. Up from myself, my agenda, my stuff. Looking up to see the world around me. Looking up EVEN HIGHER to see what Jesus would have me do with and in that world. LOOKING AND LISTENING UP, because I don’t want to miss a thing…
Philippians 2:3 – “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”
Matthew 5:14-16 – “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 25:40 – “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.”
Colossians 4:5 – Live wisely among those who are not believers, and make the most of every opportunity.
