Look Up

“Have you ever noticed that you look down a lot?” When asked that question several months ago, I honestly didn’t know I looked down a lot. I even replied, “Do I?” It’s as if the question itself smacked me right in the face! Haha. Although, I do remember one time when I was walking down a hallway and smacked my head on a doorframe (thinking I was entering a doorway). Hello, look up! 

I began to challenge myself to, you guessed it, look up. Now when I walk down a hallway, or anywhere, I’m mindful to hold my head up and smile.  This is not only a physical challenge for me, but it’s an emotional and spiritual challenge as well.  I want to hold my head up emotionally and I want to be spiritually aware of the people God has put around me, so I can be confident in noticing them. Colossians 3:1-2 speaks to the topic: “So, if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up and be alert to what is going on around Christ – that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective.” 

I eventually became aware that looking down all of the time was making myself feel small, like a little girl, too shy or scared to walk into a big situation. I have said before that I still feel like a little girl on the inside, but I don’t want to feel that way. I want to be a grown woman like Beyoncé—just not bad or doing whatever I want, lol!  I want to be where the action is, with Christ. 

When we are looking up, our perspective changes.  We feel propelled and motivated. Where we look is where we will go. In our life with Christ we may not get to see the whole picture, just pieces at a time, but His plans are to always raise us up. So, let’s look up! 

It’s still a challenge. I have to decide daily to look up. I love that my double chin is nonexistent with this new view. Plus, I’ve already grown so much by being a whole head taller than the little girl I used to feel like. I’m no longer the little girl in the mirror I used to see. I’m Jodie Renee Bivens. Living free and walking fancy with my head up.

Keep your head up, girls and on days when it’s difficult, remember the One who lifts our head high (Psalms 3:3).