Look Up!

We’re busy people, right?

Whether you’re running your own business or running around after toddlers all day, life is hectic, so it can be easy to keep your head down and just try to speed through tasks as quickly and efficiently as possible . . . .

At times I’ve been so tuned out that when powering down Tottenham Court Road I’ve walked straight past my turning three times in a row, each time admonishing myself to ‘pay attention’, and each time motoring on by because I’m JUST SO FOCUSED ON GETTING THERE QUICKLY!

Lately I’ve started taking the bus . . .

It’s amazing what you notice from a bit higher up.

Streets that I’ve walked down a gazillion times suddenly seem beautiful and interesting when I’m able to see the architecture that starts above shop level. Bulky plinths that I’ve never paid any attention to before are suddenly revealed to bear statues to heroic figures.

These quirks were there the whole time, all I needed to do was take my focus off my own feet long enough to lift my gaze.

Now I’m not big on saying “I think God might be telling you this”, mostly because the radio frequency that connects me to The Man Upstairs must have an iffy receiver at the moment, so I’m just going to say this from me: maybe you should remember to lift your gaze too.

There are flat out amaze-balls blessings all around us when we just remember to take our focus off ourselves for a few seconds.

God wants more for you than just surviving and getting from A to B as quickly as possible. He has more for you beyond that horizon line you may have imposed on yourself. And He’s been there the whole time.

All you need to do is . . .  take a moment to Look Up!

Here’s some of the cool stuff I’ve been discovering on my bus route (well, cool to me, but I am a nerd):

Picture from LSE photo album on Flick

 Artillery Mansions:

I have never noticed this building before! According to the House of Fraser website (no I’m not sure why they have a webpage on this either) this was built in 1899 as a base in London for service personnel coming home on leave. It was bought by Army & Navy Stores Ltd in 1946, and is now largely empty, which it totally a trip to Crazytown when you think of how strapped for housing space we are in this city.

                                        

Picture from English Heritage

Statue of Edith Cavell:

This statue in Trafalgar Square (looking here a bit like Abraham Lincoln and I think with pigeon on head) depicts Edith Louisa Cavell who, according to my extensive and thorough research (Wikipedia) "was a British nurse who is celebrated for saving the lives of soldiers from all sides without distinction and helping some 200 Allied soldiers escape from German-occupied Belgium during World War I, for which she was arrested. She was subsequently court-marshaled, found guilty of treason and sentenced to death. Despite international pressure for mercy, she was shot by a German firing squad. Her execution received worldwide condemnation and extensive press coverage.

The night before her execution, she told the Reverend Stirling Gahan, the Anglican chaplain who had been allowed to see her and to give her Holy Communion, "Patriotism is not enough, I must have no hatred or bitterness towards anyone." These words are inscribed on her statue in St Martin's Place, near Trafalgar Square in London. Her final words to the German Lutheran prison chaplain, Paul Le Seur, were recorded as, "Ask Father Gahan to tell my loved ones later on that my soul, as I believe, is safe, and that I am glad to die for my country”.

She sounds totally Bad Ass.

History lesson for today over – have good weeks you lovely people!