Look Up!

We are in the year 2020. Many times when we see or hear the phrase 2020, we think of perfect vision. Perfect vision in each eye. When I was younger, I wanted to be a pilot and I remember one of the attributes you needed was "perfect vision". When I think about perfect vision, I think about eagles. Eagles can see their prey like a rabbit, from over 3 km away!! Their vision is 4 to 8 times better than human vision. That is amazing. Vision is essential, whether is it a physical vision, a spiritual vision or having a vision for our lives. One of the best times to enjoy our vision is on a clear and sunny day. We can see far distances and we can see clearly. We can enjoy the contrast of the colors around us and the dynamics of the hills, valleys, mountains and the water around us.

Although we are in the year of 2020, it doesn't seem like we are able to have good vision. There is so much darkness and calamity all around us. Yes, there are some sunny days, but there seems to be a feeling of darkness and gloom hovering in the air that we cannot see. When we think of the year 2020 now, we not only think of vision but we think of the Coronavirus. We have had to stay at home to stay safe. We've had to distance ourselves from people that don't live with us to help prevent the spread of this virus that has caused so many deaths around the world, and so many more drastically sick. Many of us have experienced the passing of loved ones, and the difficulty of putting them to rest, many people have lost their jobs and are struggling to eat and feed their family. Seeing this catastrophe has had such an emotional strain on people, being confined, not sure of what to expect next and trying to avoid something that we can't see.

As a Christian woman and mother, I have to find some hope in this situation. I can decide to clam up and be in despair. I can decide to give in to my fears of tomorrow and be afraid to move, or I can decide to trust in The Lord and remember his word. The thing about vision is that some of us rely on it too heavily. We have 4 other senses that help us navigate through life. People that don't have sight are still able to function and have good productive lives. How are they able to do this without physical vision? It's because they have a different type of vision, one is instinct and that is intrinsic. They have a vision for their actual lives and that combined with their other senses move them through this life with vigor and purpose.

Speaking of Vision, and eyes in particular, I have a few thoughts that come to my mind. There are different occasions in the Old Testament of the Bible that foreshadow or tell about Jesus. in Numbers chapter 21, the children of Israel were in a situation where they were dying because they were being bitten by poisonous snakes. They told Moses they repented for speaking against the Lord and to please pray for them. The Lord told Moses to make a brass serpent and hold it up. So Moses did that and he put the serpent on a pole up high so that when anyone looked at the serpent they lived and didn't die from the snake bite.

The serpent that was raised up is a type of Jesus on the Cross in the past. We currently have the option to look to Him and live. Only those people who looked up were saved from death. The people who looked down and tried to correct the situation themselves, or who kept in their misery and pain died. I think of David, who in Psalm 121 said that he would look to the hills where his help is coming from, and that help comes from the Lord who made the Heaven and the Earth. He later says in that chapter, that He never sleeps and that He is the one who keeps us. The writer of Hebrews says in Chapter 12 that we should fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith. These 3 situations give me hope, that if I look up to Him, He's got me. I know that as David wrote in Psalm 27 verse 4, I also desire to live with Him forever. I don't know when that time is coming, but I can't be afraid to live until that day comes. The scripture says in 2 Timothy chapter 1 and verse 7, that the Lord did not give us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind. So in the meantime, I will look up!