Look up! by Nicki Copeland

Picture yourself in a crowded London street – or any city, for that matter. See the people around you, rushing here and there, invading your personal space. Hear the sounds – the traffic, the newspaper sellers at the station entrance, the hubbub of conversation. See the busyness of the shop windows, the constant moving of the traffic and the people. Sniff the pollution, the ‘peopley’ smell of passers-by hurrying to get to their destinations. As you walk, you’re constantly shifting and dodging left and right, stopping abruptly, hurrying forward, to avoid bumping into people.

What an assault on the senses.

Now stop. Stand completely still.

Look up. Allow the sights, sounds and smells of the busy street to fall away.

What do you see? What do you hear? What do you smell?

See the space, the blue sky, the sunshine. Breathe deeply of the fresh, clean air. Allow the busyness of your day to fall away, and just focus on the space. Listen to the silence.

How often do we do this? Not often enough – certainly in my case.

Whereas for some people lockdown meant more time on their hands, for me it brought all sorts of challenges in many different areas, and life has been incredibly over-crowded. Hence I haven’t been engaging a huge amount on social media. But this morning I was reminded to stop and to look up. To keep looking to God. To allow myself some breathing space so that I can regain some perspective.

As we look around us, humanly speaking we can only see what’s right in front of us. And when life is so crowded it can be really difficult to see beyond the immediate needs that are clamouring for our attention. But when we look up and look to God, we remember that God looks down and sees a much bigger picture – He sees the whole picture.

We may look forward in our daily life and see a path blocked by busyness or other challenges, and not know where it’s leading. God looks down and sees the whole length of the path. He knows what has gone before and what is still to come. Nothing takes him by surprise. We just need to trust Him to direct us along it, through or around the obstacles, and to show us how to deal with the challenges along the way.

So how does this apply to our writing? Sometimes we come to an obstacle along the path, and we don’t know where to go next. Stopping, looking up, breathing, taking some time: it all helps us to remember there are other perspectives. Perhaps looking at the plot from another character’s point of view, or rising above to look down on the whole, can offer some new ideas. Perhaps enjoying some time and space, some sunshine, some fresh, clean air, can offer some much-needed inspiration for that WIP.

Look up.

Nicki Copeland is a freelance writer, speaker, copy editor and proofreader – and loves anything to do with words. She is the author of Losing the Fig Leaf and Less than Ordinary? She is also responsible for the day-to-day running of Instant Apostle publishers. When she has the luxury of some free time, she can invariably be found with a book in one hand and some chocolate in the other.