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Our first whole day in Honduras was spent largely on a long hike – over seven miles.

One of the things you won’t find in the Honduras Visitors’ Guide is the simple fact that there is trash on the ground… everywhere. There are all kinds of trash on the ground even out in the more rural areas, though less than in the city.

And yet, it’s a beautiful place. When you add to the trash the numerous muddy spots in the road and a healthy smattering of horse manure… well, suffice it to say that you have to pay attention to where you step. And that is without any consideration of the terrain and all of the ups and downs and gravitational challenges for old and overweight folks like myself.

It’s easy to get so caught up looking at the messy reality at your feet that you miss the glorious sights around you.

As you can see, there are some amazing things to see.

I am ever more aware of our common tendency to get so fixated on the problem or circumstances we are facing that we miss the many ways God is working around us. We just can’t see past the mess through which we are wading.

We recently watched an old movie starring the late Robin Williams. In “Patch Adams,” Williams plays a man who goes on a journey from a suicidal, lonely man to finally becoming a doctor with a determination to make a difference in the lives of the people with whom he would work. The change was triggered when, in an interaction with a fellow patient at the sanitarium to which he had committed himself, he was challenged to find the solution by looking beyond the problem to really care for the person.

Patch Adams set out to care for people and not simply their bodies.

As I interact with folks that are trying to fight their way through some challenge or issue in their lives, I have found it to be a powerful help to give them something to pray about for me or for someone else. If we can look past our own frustration or set of problems, suddenly we get a healthy readjustment of our perspectives. And, when we look around, we find that the displays of God’s hand at work are indeed everywhere.

It’s not that we don’t need to watch our steps.

But maybe…we just need to look up.

To you I lift up my eyes, O you who are enthroned in the heavens!

Psalm 123.1