What are you looking at?

So I know this isn't the best picture but I took it while sitting at a red light at Knickerbocker and the loop. It really was an Am-A-zing sunset!!
As I turned onto Knickerbocker and was heading south towards the lake, I could not see the sunset at all as buildings and signs covered it until I was on the bridge over Nasworthy. As I entered the bridge, if I looked to my right there was this incredible sunset but if I was watching the road I could not see it at all, not even out of my peripheral vision. I got to wondering how many people were driving right past it and hadn't even noticed how beautiful the sky was because they hadn't turned their heads or were too absorbed in whatever they were thinking about to notice.

It made me start thinking about how we often do this in life. We are so focused on what's ahead of us or what's most prominent in our thinking we fail to see the beauty that is all around us. The sky in front of me was just the dull blue of dusk, not really exciting or noticeable and yet with a small turn of my head, a shift in my focus, so to speak, there was all this glorious beauty.

Now if I had continued to look at the sunset totally, I would have eventually wrecked my car. It made me think that in our lives there are certain things we are required to focus on in a given season or we might be at a point in our life's journey that we have no desire to camp at and yet we must pass through. I know for me, being in a long distance relationship is certainly not how I would have picked things to be right now and yet that's where we are right now and for the moment that can't change. While I must focus on that and how to successfully navigate all the ins and outs of a long distance relationship, I can also choose to look on the beauty around me whether that be a great family, fun roommate or whatever. Yeah it's hard to miss my boyfriend all the time but how blessed am I to have people here who love me and are always available for a hug or a talk. We may not be in a situation that is bad or good but just mundane or comfortable, I mean the sky in front of me wasn't stormy or spectacular it was just sky and yet even in that I could have missed the beauty the Lord had for me. In many situations that are hard or bad or good or whatever if we choose to "look" around us we can find so much beauty in what the Lord is doing and yet how often do we miss it?

What are you looking at?