living loved

Since then you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is…Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things… – Colossians 3:1-2

Have you ever looked at a corn field? I mean really just stood and looked at a corn field while driving or on the side of the road? It looks like a mess and mass of corn stalk after corn stalk after corn stalk. Looking at a corn field or a corn maze gives me that anxious feeling of being lost. Personally, unless I’m stepping into a controlled corn maze in the beautiful fall, I am not stepping into a random corn field (I may have watched too many 90s scary movies while growing up – eek).

As I drove through rolling hills of growing corn, there were moments when the stalks looked like giant masses of mess, but then as I reached the peak of the hill, you could see the corn wasn’t a tangled mess at all, but intricately and perfectly aligned in beautiful acres of rows upon rows upon rows of beautiful corn stalks by the farmer. And as I descended down the hill, the organized and meticulous rows became a tangled mass with my roadside perspective, once again.

Perspective. Perspective refers to point of view, artistic depth or view, or life and wisdom. Countless times throughout life I have been reminded or reminded others to check their perspective. Sometimes we stand so close to our life and the life of others, we fail to see true perspective. As my grandmother would often say, “You can’t see past the nose on your face.”

Unless, of course, we change our perspective. Instead of worrying, stressing, or wondering what happens next, what if we looked up? What if we changed our perspective from looking at the mass and mess of life in front of us to looking up to delight in the One who created it all? What if we trusted that Master Cartographer mapped our life and the lives of our loved ones perfectly and purposefully? Every hill, every valley, every seemingly misguided adventure has purpose and a plan. And yes, sometimes lost people stumble on to our map and sometimes the decision of others affect our map and sometimes the storms of life make the map a little sloppy, but all we have to do is look up and take another step setting our hearts and minds on the things above. We don’t get to see the birds eye view of our life, but we do get to live it. And when we set our minds and hearts on the things above, what a beautiful life to live.

Friends, you can look past the nose on your face. You can see past the tangled mass of stalks and know the intricately designed field ahead is filled with purpose and love when you’re set on Kingdom things. Lift your eyes to the heavens. Look up and know that the Cartographer’s quill is never still…He is writing your next adventure in this maze of life. Trust and take the next step.

XOXO, Loni