So, it’s early Monday morning, and I am walking down our country road; I see all the litter decorating the edge of the corn fields, tossed haphazardly by the happy weekend travelers. I moan. And fuss, wondering when I’ll have time to come back with my gloves and litter bag.

Focus… focus, Barb. Look at something besides the discarded pieces of the past.

… life is in the “looking”. I had been thinking on this phrase from my reading. (Eric Gilmour’s words) So where was I looking? What was I seeing?

What is the first thing you see in this scene?  Be honest, now.  I asked Tom, and he immediately said, “Why, the can, of course.”

After hearing a whisper to focus, I saw the morning glorys… those wild flowers that grow along country highways… you only see them in the morning. The mature corn stalks were ribbonned in blues, pinks and purples. How could I have missed beauty and focused on the trash?

Look is a simple word… how many times a day do we say it? And we look constantly… at what? But it is in looking… considering what I am seeing, what I am focusing on. It means to gaze, to wonder, to be surprised. To focus on the wonder. Where do I give my attention?

… life is in the looking… to stand in awe of what I see, to sense His very presence in the circumstances of daily life…

Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God:                             But only he who sees takes off his shoes; The rest sit round it and pluck blackberries. Elizabeth Barrett Browning  from Aurora Leigh

The Hebrew word yirah translates awe… respect, reverence, worship.  It is often translated fear, as well, depending on the context of Scripture.  Of course, there are times when we stand trembling in the presence of the Lord, but for me, I want to walk barefoot seeing life through the windows of awe.  “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13

“One thing I ask of the Lord, this is what I seek; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to seek Him in His temple.” Psalm 27:4. Have you wondered how you are to gaze… how you are to see… Him? This God who is not flesh. Is not human.

Do you see the God of morning here?  I look into  the very Life of today, and  gaze into the very presence of a holy God. His protection, His nearness, His constancy shouts in this part of our yard.  For me, this moment… this photo embodies the very nature of a God who loves, who lives. … this is life lived in “looking”…

… walking barefoot…

(You might have another phrase for life is in the …                                                                       in the hearing, in the thinking, in the writing, in the loving… what would you say? )