The Horizon

“We stay on the positive path by shifting our gaze a little at a time, until all we see is the horizon.”

That is a quote from ABC’s Good Morning America anchor, Robin Roberts, in her book Brighter By The Day. A good friend gave the book to me last week. She texted me that she keeps going back to her favorite parts so she can be continually thankful and maintain a positive outlook.

The last few weeks I have been unable to shift my gaze from the here and now. I have been laser focused on sad facts and paralyzing hopelessness with the state of our world. I was in a funk and far from the positive path. This quote really spoke to me. It was a funk buster so to speak. I realized that each day we can choose to slightly shift our gaze from the things that weigh us down to the bigger picture. Little by little. When the heaviness of the here and now tries to flatten us, we can shift our gaze ever so slightly to the unknown yet unrelenting horizon of goodness and hope and God.

But we need help to shift our gaze. I have felt that help this week.

I could sense it in my spiritual bones. I was being attended to. I think God read my blog last week and used people and situations in my life to comfort me and soothe me and help me shift my gaze.

In addition to the book I received, another friend sent me a link to a Matthew Kelly video reflection on John 7:37-39. “Out of his heart shall flow rivers of living water.” “Let anyone who thirsts come to me and drink.” He went on to encourage listeners to imagine streams of living water washing away our pain, heartache, fears, doubts, resistance, and resentments and filling us with hope, possibility, peace, and tranquility. He reminded us that in the midst of this moral, ethical, and spiritual desert that we find ourselves in these days, God will refill and refresh. Then he challenged us to take the time to visualize those streams of living water every day for a week. A gaze shifter.

Then to top it all off, yesterday was Pentecost Sunday and our granddaughter, Maggie, made her First Communion. Pentecost Sunday is a celebration of the coming of the indwelling Holy Spirit, a powerful show of God’s incredible love and provision, not just for the apostles back then, but for us now as we navigate this world on our journey home. A gaze shifter.

Maggie’s First Communion, her first encounter with Jesus on such a personal level, was another reminder of how God longs for an intimate relationship and provides the means. A gaze shifter.

Where is your gaze these days? Try looking beyond the here and now even if for a minute, and let yourself feel the peace of the horizon.

Or write a blog about it. God reads them!

Joan