Look Up and Look Around

Have you ever had “one of those days?” You know the kind. No matter what you set out to do it seems that everything goes wrong. I know I have. Sometimes, it seems they come in bunches – like bananas!

My Dad was a great example to me during those times. For him, the glass was always at least half full, rather than half empty. In fact, for him it seemed the glass was always completely full.

As a child of the 1960’s and 70’s however, I was not so sure. I bought in to the rhetoric of the time and always seemed to be having one of those days. Seeing this, Dad would put his arm around my shoulders and say “Look up.”

He explained that wherever I was looking, that was where I was headed. If I was looking at the ground, I might as well be digging my own grave. But if I would look to the horizon or beyond, a whole new world of opportunities would present itself.

He would then say to me, “And look around.” I’m afraid my answer to that was usually something like “And what am I looking for?” Full of faith in me and in the future, he had a ready answer. “Come with me.”

Going with Dad was always an adventure. Before I knew it, we were mowing someone’s lawn, or weeding a garden or flower bed, or maybe even fixing a window or door that needed repair. Dad could do anything. He would see when something was needed and take care of it.

When we were finished he would let me talk about what I had seen and more importantly how I felt. It was amazing how my outlook had improved!

A popular song of the day put it this way. “And anytime you feel the pain, hey Jude, refrain, don’t carry the world upon your shoulders. For well you know, that it’s a fool who plays it cool, by making his world a little colder.”

There was someone else, however, who taught simply “whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.”

So, next time you’re having one of those days – remember to look up, and look around. Then you can, as the song says, begin to make it better.