We were grammar school kids walking home from school, chattering about those things young girls find important when, thwonk! Regina walked straight into a telephone pole, headfirst. When the stun wore off we asked, none too gently, “What in the world were you doing?” Regina often tripped and, apparently, on this day she was literally applying her mother’s advice to watch where she was going. While concentrating on her feet, careful of every step, Regina neglected to look up at the bigger picture.

We walk through life a lot like Regina. When tripped up by difficulties, we try harder and concentrate on every step and misstep. Though we avoid a rock and step over the cracks, we lose sight of where we’re headed and crash along the way. Nursing a headache, we turn even more introspective and increasingly focus on our worries and woes, which are many and varied.

Rising like telephone poles that block our path, we are hit with a scary diagnosis, rebellious child, or job insecurity. Troubles clamor for our attention and drain our energy. The search for a way out of our difficulties or a path around them exhausts us.

When the stun subsides, fear contends for our attention and presses in. Worries abound and we fixate on the what ifs. What if I can’t make my next payment? What if I never marry or have children? What if I don’t get this job? What if I do get this job? What if the rumors are true? Preoccupation with worry makes hope elusive at best. How can hope survive when our attention zeroes in on our problems? Could a change of focus renew our hope? Yes, it can, when we apply the “H” of hope:

Hold your Eyes Higher.

*From I Was Broken, Too, Four Paths to Restore Hope, by Barbara Higby, page 19-20.