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I lift up my eyes. – Psalm 121:1 (NIV)
      
  
“Hubby and I have decided to use the Navigator on our phones because it’s likely the only time in our lives we will hear, ‘You have arrived!’”
  
I laughed when I read the post on Facebook. My hubby and I still have “dumb phones”—cell phones without the GPS applications that are so popular these days. I don’t want a GPS. Give me a map or an atlas any day. Using a GPS is like traveling blind, as far as I’m concerned—you can see only where you are, not where you’re headed. Dean, on the other hand, insists on taking his handheld GPS, which I bought him for hunting, whenever we go on a trip.
  
I think the thing is a distraction. First, before we leave, he has to make sure he has the right map downloaded. And since he’s not computer savvy, guess who has to download the map? And while he’s familiar with the workings of his GPS, I’m not. So it takes two of us to do a job that should take only one of us. Now, Dean and I get along pretty well, until a computer or a GPS is added into the equation. But I digress.
  
So we head down the road, GPS handy, Dean driving. If he’s not fiddling with the thing while driving and making me nervous, he’s asking me to check it. Now, I like to watch the scenery go by, not the little arrow on the device screen. Except it can get addicting. I can see the altitude, as well as watch the little arrow move as we move. Side roads and intersections are all marked. Once you know how to read the thing, you shouldn’t get lost. Note I said “shouldn’t.” But I digress.
  
The problem for me is that my attention is on the screen in my hand, not the scenery passing by outside my window. I’m missing the real world because I’m focused on the digital one.
  
We can live our lives the same way—focused on the wrong things and ignoring the right things. What are the right things? People. The folks who populate my world. Flesh and blood. My husband, my children, my grandchildren, my brother, my cousins, my extended family, my neighbors, my friends, my church family . . . the list goes on.
  
I couldn’t stand it when our son came for a visit or we went to dinner with him, and he’d spend most of his time reading or sending text messages. I wanted to snatch the thing out of his hands and toss it across the room. He’s older and wiser now, and spends time actually with us and not with a handheld device.
  
The world we live in is so “me” centered. But Jesus set the example we are to follow by being available to the needs of others 24/7, viewing interruptions as opportunities to help someone. Instead of “Make this fast,” He said, “What do you want Me to do for you?”
  
Lift up your eyes. You are here. You have arrived.
    
Make me aware of the needs around me, Lord, and how I can help another today. Amen.

Special-Tea: Read Luke 10:30–37