turn your eyes upon Jesus
look full in His wonderful face
and the things of earth will grow strangely dim
in the light of His glory and grace.


such a beautiful hymn with the simplest words.
seasons of life i

sing the hymn because it defines me.
other seasons of life i sing for i painfully long for it to be true.


what grows dim?
what are my eyes fixed upon?


perhaps i spend more time contemplating what needs to become less in my life. what worthlessness i should set aside. what priorities i should shift.


when truthfully, the question must be, what are my eyes fixed upon? if the answer is less than Jesus, my eyes are not where they should be.


i need not worry about what grows dim as i do with turning my eyes to Him.


the psalmist wrote, "turn my eyes from worthless things, and give me life in your ways." psalm 119.37


that is my prayer. this is my choice. the physical. the mental. the emotional. the spiritual. to seek Jesus. to stare that i begin to see double. triple and even more so, His face covering all else that is in the background. the dim background.

how do i turn?


i acknowledge He's worth my soul, attention, day, resources.


i center my parenting, my home, my budget, my health, my marriage, my relationships, my interactions with my community and world around His teachings, His truths found in Scripture.


i give in prayer my worries, my thoughts, my questions, my thanks, my burdens to Him.


i consider Him in every decision i make.


i confess my faults and wrongs before Him, the loving and gracious Lord that He is.


i willfully choose to love Him with every fiber of my being because He loved me first and laid down His life for me.

for it's when i turn that all becomes dim. oh, how i've wasted precious time making the dim dimmer, when He simply calls me to look to Him. then the dim grows dimmer.