Fixed Gazes

“Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God.  Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:2.

Yesterday I was fortunate enough to go up in a helicopter over Charleston and the surrounding beaches.  My husband made a list of certain locations he wanted to photograph all over the area.  At first, I was excited and wide-eyed as I saw groups of dolphins in the ocean from above, circled around lighthouses, and was able to hover around the beautiful steeples of Charleston.  Then, my excitement was replaced with extreme waves of nausea and my head began spinning.  What began as a calm and beautiful ride turned into 45 minutes of pushing through severe nausea.  Our pilot and friend instructed me to keep my eyes open, focusing straight ahead, and to not look down.  He explained that as long as I chose one spot on the horizon my mind would be able to stabilize which would settle my nausea.  I followed his advice and pushed through the waves of nausea.  They offered to land and cut the trip short but I was determined to get through it.  I was so thankful that I did as the last spot we went to were three beautiful plantations …. stunning and breathtaking.

In reflecting over yesterday’s events, I thought of our passage from Hebrews.  In traveling through life, we will certainly have times of calm rides and times of turbulence.   There will situations that arise which make us sick to our stomach but we are stuck in them…times when we are hovering in our circumstances longer than we wish…times when the phone rings and the information makes our head spin.   We are tempted to gaze at the problem instead of the One who can solve it.  Our Savior is our stabilizer, the One who levels out any problems and sustains us through our difficult times.  He is the horizon where we should steady our gaze.  My Bible Study states ‘God longs for us to gaze at him in trust with a steady, fixed look and only glance briefly at our problems’ Choose Joy.  Many of us glance briefly at God and gaze at our problems.

We must be people who look for our Horizon in every circumstance, allowing him to both steady and sustain us through the dizzying situations of life.  Worry and a lack of trust in God kill any potential joy intended to be ours in Christ.

Level your eyes on Him, allow God to settle in you, and enjoy the beautiful plantations of life.