A HOPEFUL HEART â—½ YOU
Look Up
By Christina Oberon
There’s something about a forest that just slows you down. It could be the quiet or the way the trees stand so tall you can’t help but feel small in the middle of them. It could be the sunlight finding its way through branches that look too thick to let anything through. Either way, I remember this day, sitting on a fallen tree in the middle of the Sequoias with the cool air brushing against my cheeks. I stopped long enough to do what is easy to skip in the rush of everyday life. I looked up.
I didn’t plan to. It wasn’t some intentional moment of reflection. It was just natural. The light hit my face and my spirit remembered something I desperately needed to remember: God is still here. He’s still close. And even when life knocks a few things over, He doesn’t. He stays steady. He stays faithful.
As the new year rolls in, that simple action keeps circling back to me - look up. Don't look up because the calendar magically wipes away everything hard or because we suddenly wake up transformed on January 1st. But look up because where we look shapes how we move. Looking up pulls our attention away from anxiety and back toward hope. Away from self-reliance and back toward God. Away from the pressure to fix everything and toward the One who actually can.
That day in the forest, when I tilted my face toward the sky, the sunlight broke through the branches like it was meant for me. I felt small, yes, but not in the "I don’t matter" kind of way. It was more like being held, like remembering I’m not the one carrying the weight of the world. I'm just loved by the One who does.
You may be walking into this year carrying things you didn't expect. Maybe last year wrung you out a little. Or a lot. Maybe you're hopeful, but also tired. Maybe you’re excited, but still healing. If that’s where you are, you’re in good company. God meets us right there in the in-between.
And when we look up, we remember that God is still above it all. Nothing we're facing, whether the unknown, the disappointment, the fear, is bigger than Him. He hasn't lost sight of us, not even for a moment. There is beauty even in what has fallen. That tree I sat on once stood tall. Now it's on its side, but it’s still useful. It still holds weight. Some seasons of our lives feel that way, like something fell. But God brings purpose from places we didn't expect. Our fall could be the very thing that holds someone else up.
As this new year begins, look up and remember you’re not doing this year alone. Look up and let hope settle back into the places that went quiet. Look up and let God steady what feels unsteady. And maybe this will be the year you move forward with your eyes lifted, your heart open, and your hope anchored in the One who never changes.