.faith & hope & love.

Get Low

Until the age of 8, my family and I lived at 19 Batman Crescent. Yep, that was the name of our street. Apparently our local county had a good sense of humor when it came to street naming. Despite the ridiculous name, it was actually a sweet, little neighborhood in a lovely location. Batman Crescent was full of young families and elderly people who shared their sugar and knew each other’s names. All the houses on the right hand side of the street backed onto the great Australian bush land - gum trees, native flowers, kookaburras and yes, kangaroos.

At the end of Batman Crescent was a long, walking track that led deep into the bush and brought you to a famous cliff named ‘Martin’s Lookout’. My Dad and I used to walk that track all the time. Well, in the early days he pushed me in a stroller, then we walked, then once I got the hang of riding a bike, we would ride down the well-worn track to our favorite spot. I knew every turn so well - under the huge electricity towers, past the wattle trees, a quick stop to say hi to the giant rock in the shape of a crocodile, then… the most breathtaking view. I loved to just stand there and stare in wonder. Even when I returned a few years ago to visit, I was stunned at the beauty of the huge expanse laid out before me. Standing at the edge of that cliff at the top of the mountain was my favorite place because I felt like I could take on anything. From that perspective, I seemed to be on top of the world.

One day, on one of our trips to Martin’s Lookout, Dad and I decided to make the trek down into the valley. I had always seen the creek down the bottom and I wondered if there were any waterfalls near it, so we did it. After lots of climbing, tripping and slipping, we made it to the very bottom of the huge valley. The creek was pretty, but when I looked up, I felt utterly overwhelmed. I couldn’t see anything - not even the sky. The sheer size of what was towering over me and surrounding us was daunting, not to mention, the thought that I had to climb my way out of there somehow. The same beautiful forest I stood and stared at in wonder at was now an enemy to be conquered. Same forest. Completely different perspective.

Where we choose to stand to find perspective on our lives and situations we find ourselves in is of incredible importance because it affects so much. Our words, thoughts, actions and decisions depend on where we are standing and looking out from. Two people can find themselves fighting the same battle or having to make the same decision, and because of their perspective, respond in completely different ways. My heart’s desperate desire is to always reflect God in every decision I make. I want to have a Godly perspective. I want to see what He sees and respond from that position.

You and I would think that to have the best perspective, it would be wisest to stand on the highest point. From the top of that cliff face, I could see for miles. But from the bottom of the valley, I could barely see anything at all. I couldn’t see if there was a storm on the horizon, or even where the sun was in the sky.

But here’s the funny thing about God’s kingdom - it’s full of oxymoron’s that seem to rage against everything we know to be right. “So the last will be first, and the first will be last” (Matt 20:16). “Whoever tries to keep his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life will preserve it” (Luke 17:33). “Whoever wants to be first must take last place and be the servant of everyone else” (Mark 9:35). Jesus loved to turn people’s thinking upside down - or the right way up. And in the same way, when it comes to finding the best place to get Godly perspective, He asks us to do something surprising.

He asks us to kneel. Get low. Find the floor and sit at His feet. I recently heard someone say ‘everything looks different at His feet’ and it’s exactly right. It’s where we can see for miles. He has a beautiful way of taking our messes and confusion and making the solutions so wonderfully clear to us when we will simply take the time to sit at His feet and look to Him. That’s what we’re doing when we worship. Just like Mary chose to stop running around like Martha, just kneel at His feet and listen. Just like the woman in Luke 7 who brought Jesus the expensive perfume, knelt down and wiped His feet with her tears. When we lift our hands in worship, we are surrendering and kneeling before Him. When we sing songs about how great He is, that we trust Him, that we are putting our hope in Him, we are putting Him in the place where He belongs. High and lifted up. He sits in the highest place, knowing all that is ahead, and then He leans down and whispers in our ear, “This is how I see it….”. How incredible.

I love the old hymn ‘Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus’. It so beautifully conveys the sense my heart has often in times of worship when it says ‘…and the things of earth will grow strangely dim in the light of His glory and grace’. It’s such a weird, glorious phenomenon. When we stop and stare at him, when we’re looking ‘full in his wonderful face’, all those things that have been towering over our heads, demanding our attention and begging us to start worrying, suddenly seem… small. Bearable. Temporary. Because He knows the beginning from the end. He will never let you stumble if you choose to first kneel.

So get low and see for miles.

Michelle x

Posted 11 months ago — 1 note