I don't know where this image was taken, but I suspect the Grand Canyon. What a powerful message.
One Minute is only 60 seconds. Pause and take in the beauty.
Don't read.
Don't talk.
Put the camera down.
Put the phone down.
Just look... and see.
There is wonder all around us. We are about the meet a new baby... if he ever decides it is time. Oh the wonder such a precious moment.
We have a new daughter through marriage with a birthday today. Yes... we have a girl! We are tickled pink.
There is a new marriage about to be sealed in covenant with God before the day is complete. Back home, another bride is being celebrated by loved ones at a bridal shower. These are good days.
We get so focused on the busy that we forget to really look... and truly see. When we take the time to look, we learn to really live.
I get wrapped up in human impatience and my own agenda. I hurry toward what comes next. I sometimes miss what is good right here and right now. These moments... on this day... are wrapped in wonder.
I am no different from the Israelites as they complained about everything not long after the Lord parted the Red Sea for their escape. They quickly forgot the miracles that unfolded before them as they made their exodus from Egypt, until a snake problem brought them back to a place of seeking God's face.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, they lived. -Numbers 21:8-10
He longs for us to seek him in love... not just because there are snakes in our midst.
This passage reminds me of "Look and Live", an old hymn I sang often growing up:
“Look and live,” my brother, live,
Look to Jesus now, and live;
’Tis recorded in His word, hallelujah!
It is only that you “look and live.”
A recent message connected the dots between the Old and New Testament on a piece of a passage that once seemed random. The words are perfectly chosen to shine God's light through the Old Testament to illuminate the New Testament covenant.
Pause. Look. Believe. Receive. Live. Take it all in and be filled with new hope.
Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." -John 3:14-15
"So the Son of Man must be lifted up... and everyone who believes may have eternal life in him." The mystery of the moment was deeply woven into their Jewish history. Jesus was raised up on the cross for people to look and live or look, laugh and reject.
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.-John 3:16-17
Eternity awaits. A choice is made. We simply need to believe and receive. Look and live.We must slow down and practice the pause. Easier said than done.
Memories are made in the moments. Eternity is decided in a moment. Pause to participate in the wonder of it all. We can choose to look and live.
Today, I am grateful for the reminder to look... and see... and live.
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