I hopped out of my van as I ran some errands a few days ago. Well, hopped may be a stretch. More like I stepped out of my van, in all honesty.
I had noticed this beautiful sky and being as I love taking sky pictures, I paused to snap a quick shot.

I knew, though, that it probably wouldn’t be the best view because of the surroundings.
“Nah,” I thought as I looked at the picture on my phone. “It’s too cluttered with ugliness.”
I almost deleted it then and there but decided to look at it later and decide.
As I thought about that picture, and as I looked at it on my computer, the view reminded me of some things.
Those “not-so-pretty” poles and buildings and store sign are a lot like our lives. I can say “our” because we all know that every person on the planet has a life that gets cluttered with “stuff.”
We wish our view could be like this picture that I took this week as well.

How gorgeous! How impressive!
But life isn’t picture perfect for any of us. Life is full of grit.
Some of the hardships we handle are private. We don’t want anyone to know about them, either because of pride or because we don’t want to bother others with our “stuff.”
Other areas of life are there for all to see. We might try to hide our issues, or not talk about them, or hope that they’re not obvious. But at times the junk is out there and noticeable and we are humiliated.
Whatever is going on in our lives, though, that messes up the beauty doesn’t need to consume our vision.
It is up to me to choose my focus.
And so it is with our lives. On what am I focusing?
Better yet, on WHOM am I focusing?
“For my eyes are toward You, O God, the Lord;
In You I take refuge…” (Psalm 141:8)
Oh, may we all learn to shift our eyes from our problems, our pain, our hurts, our struggles…and instead focus toward God, our refuge.
God’s character never changes even as our situations do. His beauty is still there.
Turn from our grit to His glory.
“My eyes are continually toward the Lord…” (Psalm 25:15)