Intentionally Turning. Volume# 19 Issue # 2 Date: February 2023

Every morning I sit at my kitchen table facing out the window, watching the morning light start to fill the sky. As things outside become bright enough to see, I am reminded that the only thing my window really faces is the smokestacks, their dirty structures puffing out thick plumes of pollution into the air. The smoke can hardly count as a cheerful morning greeting. But if I choose to get up, walk to the window and intentionally turn my attention to the North, my eyes are met by the sight of tall, majestic mountains tipped with gleaming white snow caps. One sight reminds me of the filth of sin in our world, how it is still true that the “wickedness of man is great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil” (Gen6:5). Sin pollutes our lives and relationships; we can see its effects all around us. But the daily call to believers is to intentionally turn our attention away from the world and look to the glories of our Lord, not just the beauty of the nature He has created, but at Him! “If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things that are above, not on the things that are on the earth.” (Col 3:1). This encouragement to seek Him is a daily call to all of us, so let’s intentionally turn towards Him. We will find it is always a better view.