There is something about adulthood and the rhythms of everyday life that conditions us to constantly have our gaze fixed at eye level and falsely believe that it is somehow productive.
The world calls this eye-level, self-obsession “wisdom.”
I remember about seven years ago, when I was first married and working a job that was completely draining, I was sitting on a park bench after work one day when I realized how long it had been since I stopped and really took in the beauty of the sky above me. It was a simple and sobering moment of clarity.
Children don’t have this problem. Their domain is that of the imagination, of play, of joy, of faith, and wonder. They are sometimes admonished for “having their heads in the clouds” while adults are applauded for being “down to earth.”
But always having our eyes fixed at eye level, literally speaking, does something harmful to us mentally and spiritually: it has this tendency to magnify our problems, promote unexamined self-centeredness, and diminish our perspective of God and our concern for Him in the everyday, mundane moments of life.
In the opposite way, looking up has had this tendency, in my own life, of reminding me of my would-be insignificance in a truly grand universe, and so it also reminds me of the immensity and particularity of God’s love for me; that is, that He chooses to be mindful of me, small as I am, in light of the grand universe He has placed me in. It is yet another example of the beautifully paradoxical and wonderfully surprising nature of God.
Looking up also has this grace about it that puts into perspective our problems for what they are, not in a belittling, condescending, or self-deprecating manner, but in such a way that reminds us of their temporality and scope.
So, I think, this supposed appeal to being sensible, practical, and logical that we describe as being “down to earth” isn’t all its chalked up to be. It has its moments of benefit, wherein we must put away with childish things, as Paul wrote¹, and embrace the harsh realities of life with wisdom. But Jesus also reminds us that we are to have faith like a child and that it is from this perspective that our hearts are positioned to both see and enter the kingdom of God².
Some of the most brilliant and beautiful things to behold in life are the free gifts we find when we simply lift our gaze above eye level: sunrises, sunsets, constellations, shooting stars, cloud formations, and mountain tops. All that these things ask of us to be enjoyed is our attention.
So here’s to enjoying the fruit of our labors, friends, when we learn to practice the simple act of looking up.
References:
- 1 Cor. 13:11
- Matt. 18: 2-4
