Running with Blinders

woman sitting on black chair near brown table

I don’t have to tell you. We both know full well. Life is stressful.The unexpected piles on top of the mundane.  Out of the blue relational drama looms over the dreary grind and we’re left feeling a bit un-human. 

We force ourselves to just keep going–to do, not think. We run with blinders blacking out our peripheral vision and hope in the end, it will all be OK. 

Meanwhile, we haven’t the faintest idea what to make for dinner or when in tarnation the laundry will get done! 

How can we find ourselves in the craziness? Even more, how can we find Jesus? Hear Jesus? See Jesus? When we lose sight of our Lord, we can’t find ourselves either. Nothing fits. Nothing’s OK.

We may be working hard and well. We might be doing all the right things at all the right times. People might be pretty impressed, but if those blinders have blocked out His face, it’s not alright. It’s not OK.

Have we forgotten what HE looks like? Have we forgotten how beautiful He is? 

How life-giving it is to just think about HIM? ….. Nothing else, just HIM. Not prayer requests or ministry vision or even what His power can do. Just HIM. Just to lose ourselves in thoughts of HIM. 

Every day we need to step off the treadmill and breathe in some fresh breaths of Jesus.  I’m not talking about Quiet Time.  I’m talking about taking the stress blinders off to see what only soul eyes can see and inhale what only spirit-lungs can hold.  A fresh breath of Jesus! 

It isn’t hard or complicated, you don’t have to go far. Our Lord surrounds us like the air we breathe.  So grab a quick breath of Him right there in the middle of that pile of laundry or in the heat of stressed out errand runs.  There are split-seconds of eternity awaiting us that will invigorate and change everything!    

selective focus photo of woman with half her body leaning out of a window

Just do it!  Step away from the frying hamburger, walk out the back door and look up into the sky. Stay in the car a moment before that last run.  Open the sun roof, lay back in your seat and look up. Doesn’t matter if it’s gray skies or clear blue; snowing or raining–one look up, really up into the sky and you WILL think of HIM. You can’t help but be gripped by Him when you look up into His sky, even if only for second. You’ll walk away wondering why on earth you haven’t been looking up. Why in heaven’s name have you gone so many days without ever looking up, even once?

Set your alarm fifteen minutes early or stay up fifteen minutes later than the rest of the family. Wrap yourself in a cozy blanket and go into the pitch black living room. Let the darkness block out to-do-lists and heaviness. Lay on the couch and dream of heaven for a bit. Ask Him what it will be like to see HIM with your eyes—face to face? Speak to the ceiling with a gaze piercing the darkness and whisper loud, “Someday I’m gonna see YOU…. Some day I’m gonna see YOUR FACE!”

 This is a fresh breath of Jesus.   It doesn’t replace Quiet Time, it creates passion for Quiet Time. It leaves us longing.

We’ve got to find ways to pull down unseen realities and weave them into our everyday.  What feels so far away, so unearthly, is far closer than we know–far more real than we can comprehend. Invigorating breaths of Jesus are more essential to our daily existence than the howling urgent stuff that drives us. And the really cool thing is, we can catch split-second breaths of Him smack-dab in the middle of the everyday thick of it! All day long breathing Him in like unceasing prayer!

Find creative ways to breathe HIM into your daily routine. Don’t risk running with blinders on. Don’t let yourself lose sight of the One you say your life is all about.