"An Ode To Looking Up"

This past January I flew to Taiwan to visit my family. And as I was walking in the neighboured that I had lived in for about six years of my life (from 2003-2009), I saw something that left me shook. As my wife, Kristi, and I were walking, I looked up and saw this massive five-story mural on the side of a building in the neighbourhood. It beautifully depicts the famous parable of the sower and the seeds from the gospel accounts (you can read that parable in Luke 8 for example). If I had been wearing socks at the time, this would’ve blown them off! Because, I had been walking and living in that neighbourhood for years. The mural was painted in 2001! How did I miss this? 

Looking back on those years when I lived there, I must’ve been so focused on myself, my own little world. I was a teenager at the time, so it could’ve been anything: teenage angst, hormones, being preoccupied with my friends and what other people thought of me. Or maybe my eyes were glued to my Nokia 6500 Slide phone (look it up kids!) as I texted this girl I was seeing at the time. Okay—it wasn’t all bad because that girl would go on to be my wife. But still, the point is, I was so focused on “looking down” that I missed what I should’ve seen by “looking up.”

I struggle with looking up and paying attention.

It reminds me of another incident when Kristi and I were heading out the door for another walk (this time in Vancouver). And she had just stepped outside the door and said: “Oh, it’s raining.” And I, looking at my weather app on my phone said “Uh…no it’s not. It says here it’s not supposed to rain for another two hours.” And then I looked up and saw her standing there, silently, pointing up at the sky, as I witnessed rain drops fall on her head and our yard.

Yeah, my bad.

There is this ancient Rabbinic midrash (commentary) about the Exodus deliverance story, where God parts the Red Sea and the Israelites walk through it into freedom. But there are these two Israelites, who complain about the mud stuck on their sandals as they walk. They are fixated on this, looking down at their feet, all the while if they had looked up they would have seen that walls of water were being held back for their deliverance.

So Church, in what ways have you been “looking down” this season? Fixated on something small or insignificant, relative to what God may be doing in your life? The God who may be grabbing your attention with beauty, blessing you with soft rain, or bringing about your deliverance.

I know it’s a bit ironic, since you may be looking down at screen right now reading this. But, the invitation is to look up more. To pay attention. To be astonished by all the ways God may be showing up, speaking to you, and leading you into wonder and gratitude and surprise.

So may you, my friends, look up more this coming while. And may you notice that God’s grace and peace are with you, everywhere you look.

Michael Yang is the Tapestry Nights Campus Pastor
Photo taken by Michael Yang!