Look Up!
We awakened very early the other morning to our new dog, Hope, running back and forth through the house barking. She does this when someone is approaching the house. We got up and began peering out the window, checking for a skunk in the flowers or a friendly neighbor deciding to visit at the crack of dawn. Nothing.
Hope continued to run back and forth like a nut for another ten minutes. We couldn't figure it out. Now we stepped outside, looked around, still nothing. We were puzzled so decided to take this as an opportunity to do some training with her. We pulled out the tiny pieces of turkey dog and sat down at the kitchen table, rewarding her every time she looked outside and didn't lose her mind. She continued to bark. As we were about to give up our quest, I looked out the kitchen window and saw this.
I gasped and pointed at this magnificent surprise first thing in the morning. We all got up from the table and ran outside, with Hope by our side jumping about three feet off the ground in excitement. We stood on the back porch and finally looked up. There were at least 25 hot air balloons in the sky, right above our house. When we went out to look for a skunk or stranger, we never looked up. If we had, we would have seen with great glory what Hope was so excited about.
How often do we look at ourselves, our lives, situations, people in just one way? We often live from one perspective. I have taken to looking around me now. When I am walking to the park, I make it a point to turn around and look behind me. What am I missing in my perspective? There is a whole and often I am looking through one piece of it which can be severely limiting to me in the ways I live my life. John O'Donohue talks about it in terms of a castle tower. We are standing in a tower with hundreds of windows all the way up, but many of us choose to look out of one or two of them. Why? Because it is comfortable. We get comfy cozy in the way we see and experience things and to try something new, to peer out another window or look up, brings in the new. And if we haven't been taught that we are safe in the new, we feel afraid. And often, very often, we avoid what scares us.
I invite you to look up today. Turn around look behind you. Look to your left and to your right. There is a wholeness to be discovered and it is explored by changing direction. Try something new for breakfast. Sit in a new place to read your book. Go for a walk with someone you don't know well. Breath into a part of yourself you are not a big fan of. Look up. There is so much surprise and glory to be received when we do.
Comments