Eyes Wide Open

It's that time of year again. The time we all sit back and reflect on what the past 365 days were like. We remember what happened, the good and the bad. We take note of all that has changed. We evaluate who it is we are in comparison with who we truly desire to be. It is that last thought that leads us to make our New Year's Resolutions. Last year I blogged about a New Kind of Resolution, it was different because it was less focused on doing things for myself, and more on doing things for others. I didn't discuss my desire to be healthier, work out more,  or read more books. I wrote about desiring to love others better. This year, I feel God leading me to make a very similar resolution. This year, 

I want to live my life with my eyes wide open. 

Let me explain. In November my church had the privilege of hosting the band Everfound. They put on an amazing concert for our little audience of about 120. The way they performed, you could tell they were singing for the glory of God, and it was wonderful to get to be part of that experience. One of the songs they played was their New Year's resolution song entitled, Resolution. Part of the lyrics describe living life, "with eyes wide open." That imagery gets me. It makes me wonder if I've been living with my eyes wide open. Have I seen all God desires for me to see? Do I walk around this world only half seeing, eyes partially open seeing only what I want to see? Do I actually see people, or do I merely look through them? My New Year's resolution last year was to love people the way God loves them, this year I want to see people the way God sees them, and I want to allow God to open my eyes, open them wide. 

Colossians 3:1-2 (MSG) says, 

"So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective."

I don't want to go through my life, shuffling along, with my eyes on the ground focusing on myself. I don't want to be absorbed with my to-do lists and life goals. I want to live with my eyes wide open. I want to see God moving, notice what he's doing that I may live out the resurrected life he has given me. I want to see things from God's perspective, but that means that I must be willing to see people, truly see them.

I do a lot of ministry. I teach 4yr olds - 5th graders every Sunday morning and then switch over to 6th-12th graders on Sunday nights. I work to equip and train small group leaders for those age groups. I love every part of what I do in these various jobs, but I need to remember that it is more important that I am truly seeing the people I am working with than it is that I get every little task done. When a child comes in to class with excitement about something that may seem small, do I seek to enter into that joy with him and encourage him? When that teenager is retreating to the corner, do I notice the way her eyes give the message that she is hurting and seek to be a presence in her life, even if that means merely sitting with her in her hurt? When I pray for people do I really want God to open my eyes enough that I might see the way he is calling me to enter into their lives and love them the way he does?

That's what it comes down to; do I really want to live with my eyes wide open? God has invited me to live a resurrected life, a life with my eyes wide open in which he teaches me how to really see people and love them. It is not a question of ability. I know God can open my eyes and teach me how to really see people. He promised to take my heart of stone and replace it with a heart of flesh (Ez. 36:26). He has given me a resurrected life. All I have to do is live into it.

So, this is my resolution. This year, I will live a resurrected life. I will not shuffle along, head looking to the ground. I will look up. I will see where God is moving. I will allow him to help me see people the way he sees them, that I may truly love them. I will live with my eyes wide open.