December 15

“It is a simple fact that we see what we look at and cannot see what we look away from.  We cannot look to Jesus while we are looking at ourselves.”  Hannah Whitall Smith, Daily Secrets, 12/4

I’ve been thinking about what it means to be “in” a relationship with people.  Too often we just have a relationship “with” people.  To me, it’s like having a relationship with my desk.  I depend on it to hold my computer.  In return I will dust it every now and then--but we are definitely NOT “in” a relationship.  In this kind of relationship we are looking only at ourselves and our needs.  I’ve come to realize how much my physical actions can add to or subtract from a relationship.  It’s very hard to have a long-distance relationship for this reason.  But it also applies to the people you live with.  I tend not to look at people when I’m talking to them.  This probably started as a child because I was so shy.  Later it was because I was so busy.  I realize now that I often miss important cues when I don’t look at people--their body language will often help me interpret what is really being said or let me know if I’m being understood.  Hannah, though, brings another element into my need to look at people when I’m talking or listening to them and that is I’m really looking at God.   Because we are made in God’s image and Jesus and God are One we are in essence looking into the heart of Jesus if that person is a Christian and if they are not we are looking at someone who needs Jesus.  This will keep my focus off myself.

“But as for me, I will look to the LORD, I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me.”  Micah 7:7