What Are You Looking At
Dan Kunz
When I first bought a motorcycle a number of years ago, I took a riding class taught by a crusty old biker dude. He was a no-nonsense kind of guy. He said what he thought and let his opinion be known. Since he was teaching a bunch of novice motorcyclists and he had spent thousands of miles on the road, that was okay. Some of his opinions maybe were best kept to himself, but some of them have proven very valuable over the years. For example, he didn’t think much of motorcycle helmets. He referred to a helmet as a “Styrofoam cup” on your head. Although it’s true that some helmets are lined with what appears to be Styrofoam, they are still a good idea and prevent or minimize some head injuries. I’ve kept one of his pieces of advice, though, and it’s prevented some unpleasant and potentially dangerous results. That is, “Look where you want to go, not where you don’t want to go.” As simple as it sounds, that statement is profound. If you’re driving a motorcycle (or a car, for that matter) around a curve and you look at the ditch where you don’t want to end up, your mind tends to steer toward that place. For that reason, our instructor told us to always look where you want to go. Look at the road ahead, not at the ditch.
As a runner, I don’t usually look at the ditch if I’m running out on a country road, but I do still have a choice of where to look. Sometimes it’s important to look straight down at the road beneath your feet, but sometimes it’s better to look ahead, at a goal you’re trying to reach. For example, if the road is littered with stones, mud, or other debris, looking where your next footstep should be is important. In western Wisconsin, where I live, the fair number of large hills can be a challenge. Our old house was part way up one of those hills. When I went for a run, I always had to go either uphill or downhill for a ways. Through experience I found that looking too far ahead, at the top of the hill where I wanted to go, made the task too daunting and difficult. I was constantly tempted to just stop running and walk up the hill. If I kept my head down and focused on just putting one foot in front of the other, I couldn’t see the hill and be overwhelmed by it. Sometimes the opposite is true. Looking ahead and setting a goal, whether it be a mailbox or a bend in the road, helps me to strive toward a target which feels doable. “I can make it that far.” I’ve been blessed to be able to run two marathons in my life and I’m pretty sure I couldn’t have completed them if I only looked straight down for 26.3 miles!
We have the same dilemma in life’s journey. Do I look ahead, do I look in the ditch, or do I look down? We should only look at the ditch momentarily, to be aware of a danger or a pitfall for us. At times, we need to “keep our head down” and with dogged determination put one foot in front of the other as we navigate a huge hill or obstacles in the road. An alcoholic or addict needs to take one hour or one day at a time. That’s true for many things in life. Keep plugging away. Most importantly, we need look ahead. Look at our goal and never lose sight of it – eternal life in heaven with our Lord and Savior. He has already secured it for us, we just need to get there. It's just a matter of time, be it a few days or many years. We do that by holding fast to the faith which the Holy Spirit has implanted in us, not through our own striving or accomplishments. See you at the finish line! Hebrews 12:2 Let us keep our eyes fixed on Jesus, who is the author of our faith and the one who brings it to its goal. In view of the joy set before him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame and has taken his seat at the right hand of God’s throne.