Fix Your Eyes

On the risk of sounding like I'm copying, there are three things I think I could just watch forever, four that could hold my attention continuously:

1. Fire is such a beautiful thing. From the smallest candle flame to the biggest bonfire, the flickering and dancing of a fire can captivate me like little else. This is especially true if there's a slight chill in the air, and the fire also serves to keep me warm. It's hard to believe that something so beautiful and so necessary can be so destructive when it gets out of hand.

2. Rushing water soothes my soul. Be it a babbling brook or Niagara Falls, I cannot get enough of watching water tumble over, around, and in between rocks. My mind cannot fathom the process that makes sure there is always a steady supply of water to dazzle onlookers. What makes it so that the water follows such intricate, seemingly random paths despite always going over the same rocks with the same gravity affecting it. And yet, just like fire, get too much of it and water can be very, very destructive, even though it is one of the things we need the most.

3. The Aurora Borealis are amazing. An effect created out of some of the most violent explosions in the universe doesn't hurt us, but give us a light show unrivaled by lasers, fireworks, or even lightning. The mesmerising changing of colours and dancing of the lights can keep my eyes trained heavenward for hours. It's the visual equivalent of music, for all I can tell.

4. Friends have to be the best part about living. If I had my way, I'd be with all of them all the time, but just like fire, water, and explosions of the sun, too much can be dangerous. But the best part is, even when I cannot be with my friends, my attention can be turned toward the good things we have done together and the potentially good things our future can hold. For though a fire eventually dies, water sometimes dries up, and the Aurora Borealis has to end in the morning, true friends are forever.

God has blessed us with beauty that is immesurable, even in this world. All of nature reflects God's love, power, and majesty to our minds in ways that are easier to comprehend. As much as we try, we cannot change nature. But what we do can have an effect on our friendships. Therefore, let us try, as much as we can, to reflect God's love, power, and majesty, in whatever way we know how, to our friends and to our potential friends (read: everyone else) so that God can be brought to them in ways that are easier to comprehend.

This can only be done once we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. For otherwise, we know not what to do.