Kim Wilbanks

I often wake up in the morning with a song “playing” in my mind.  It can be anything from an old hymn I’ve known since my childhood or the latest contemporary Christian tune.  One morning last week the song of the morning was “Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus” (Text and Music by Helen H. Lemmel).   It is a hymn I remember singing in the small Baptist church I attended the first twenty-something years of my life.  You may be familiar with the chorus: “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”.

I have always thought that “the things of earth” referred to material possessions or worldly pleasures.  We should turn our focus away from those things and towards Jesus, but, a new thought occurred to me on that morning.  The news reports of all of the terrible things going on in this world of ours could be considered “the things of earth”.  Wars, senseless acts of violence, natural disasters, epidemics,  all of these are of this earth.  If I am not careful, I can let the bad news I hear on television,  see on the internet or read in the newspaper drive me to despair.   That is when I need to heed the message of the hymn and turn my eyes upon Jesus.  I am not saying I should bury my head in the sand and pretend everything is rosy in my world.  The events of  these times should and do drive me to prayer.  But when I do turn my eyes, turn my focus upon Jesus, even these dreadful, frightening events do “grow strangely dim in the light of his glory and grace.”

A book I read by Holley Gerth (You’re Made for a God-Sized Dream) gave me the final push to start this blog.  She is kind enough to allow bloggers to share their links on her blog Holley Gerth Coffee for Your Heart.  Check it out!  Its one of my favorites!

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