Fixing My Eyes

   At Lancaster Bible College we are encouraged to keep improving ourselves; and grow in God. One way that is done is through character contracts. Basically, what happens is we pick a specific character trait that we feel we need to work on. Then we come up with a few assignments in order for us to grow in that character trait. We have until the end of the semester to complete this assignment.

   When I did my assignment I chose the character trait optimism. It is not easy to be positive in a negative world. Nevertheless I knew I needed to work on being more positive. So, I did different activities through the semester. One activity we had to do is pick a song that made an impact on us. For a while my “happy” song was Good Morning by Mandisa. Every time I listened to it in my car it reminded me that each day is a new day. I woke up that morning for a reason; and I was blessed with another day so I should be happy. It is a great song; but then I began to realize that I was typically only happy in the morning. So I needed to find a way to be happy throughout the day.

   That is right about the time when the song Happy by Pharrell Williams came out. I know what some of you are thinking: “that song is so annoying,” or “that is a secular song.” Well I used to be annoyed by it too. But, then I listened to the lyrics one day. And, they actually made sense. We are to be happy through the good and bad times. So that song became my new “happy” song. But, one day I realized happiness wasn’t enough.

   Some of you may be familiar with a movie that is still popular today: Frozen. I did not used to like a certain song from that movie because it was on the radio all the time. Say it with me now: “Let it go, let it go…” But, about a year after the movie came out I started listening to the song again; because, at that point, the hype had died down a little. That’s when I realized the problem with my “happy” song being Good Morning or Happy. Those songs made me put a mask up; and I did not even realize it. I don’t like masks. But, in pretending to be happy and positive through all things I was putting a mask up. The song Let It Go made me realize that I cannot just pretend to have no problems. I need to give my problems to God, because he has a plan for my life. I just need to trust him. That song got me through a lot; but then I went through something else that made my “happy” song change again.

   One day I had a problem and I kept telling myself to let it go to God. It was not working. That’s when I realized that I was focusing too much on my problems and not enough on God. I had recently started making mix cd’s for my car; and one song I came across was Fix My Eyes by for King and Country. It was through that song that I realized that I need to fix my eyes on God, not on my problems. Because, no matter how big my problems seem, I can always count on him. I mean, I should have realized this a long time ago when I watched Veggie Tales and heard the song “God is Bigger than the Boogie Man.”

   Anyhow, that was a journey of about 4 years of my life. And, I’m telling all of you this so that you don’t run into the problems of putting a mask up or focusing on the problem and not God. In the end I realized another important lesson from my character contract; but that is a blog for another time.

   So, are you putting a mask up so that others do not see what you are going through? Are you focused too much on your problems and not on God? 
Matthew 6:34, Proverbs 3:5-6, Matthew 14:22-33