Is it truly that easy...just to look?

A little while ago, my family came across the scriptural story of Moses and the Israelites in the wilderness in our family scripture study.  God had sent poisonous serpents, and people were dying all around.  Moses constructed a staff with a serpent at the top and promised that if the Israelites would just look, they would be healed.  That's it...just look up.

Verse 41 of 1 Nephi of the Book of Mormon offers this insight:

...He sent fiery flying ^bserpents among them; and after they were bitten he prepared a way that they might be ^chealed; and the labor which they had to perform was to look; and because of the ^dsimpleness of the way, or the easiness of it, there were many who perished.

 It made me think about Alma 33:

19  Behold, he (Christ) was spoken of by Moses; yea, and behold a type was raised up in the wilderness, that whosoever would look upon it might live. And many did look and live.
20  But few understood the meaning of those things, and this because of the hardness of their hearts. But there were many who were so hardened that they would not look, therefore they perished. Now the reason they would not look is because they did not believe that it would heal them.
21  O my brethren, if ye could be healed by merely casting about your eyes that ye might be healed, would ye not behold quickly, or would ye rather harden your hearts in unbelief, and be slothful, that ye would not cast about your eyes, that ye might perish?

So what does it mean to "look"?  How do we "cast our eyes about" that we might be healed?  I have thought a great deal about this.  I thought about reading my scriptures, saying my prayers...anything that makes me "look in the direction of Christ"...temple worship, beautiful art of Him and God's creations, going to church...and I thought about how simple and easy these things are.  I think we make it hard our ourselves, thinking that, somehow, something so easy as opening those pages to read a couple verses, something so simple as kneeling when we are hurting or joyful, couldn't possibly do something as miraculous as heal us.

These thoughts stuck with me for a few days, as I wondered how I can look to Him in my life.

Then I watched the Olympics and, as I watched the women gymnastics, I noticed something that struck me.  When the young ladies came off of their event, having committed some error that seemed beyond their ability to cope with, I watched their coaches.  Their coach would put their hands on their shoulders or on either side of their faces, gaze with intense focus into those young, hurting eyes, and reach them.  I can only imagine what they said, but I imagine it was something like: "You messed up, but you can do it!  Don't give up!  Keep going!  Keep your focus!  You have trained your whole life for this!  You can do it!"

I thought, when we look to Christ, He wants to do the same for us, our faces between His hands, His face focused on ours: "You can do it!  You messed up, you're hurting, you're worried...don't lose hope!  Keep your focus!  I am here! Don't give up!"

It became real to me one night as I felt overwhelmed with a new development and consideration in going to Hungary.  I felt despair seeking entrance to my mind, and I was tired enough that I was ready to give in at the moment.  Then, the thought entered my mind, "Look to me..."  I remember distinctly sitting tiredly on the chair, lifting my eyes up towards the wall, and imagining my Savior and Elder Brother before me, looking down at me.  I focused on that thought, and, in a very real way, I felt the worry dissolve away, and perspective come back.  In the long scheme, my worries are very small, and I felt such peace enter my heart...just by looking.

To look to Him....what stops us?  Where do we tend to look?  At the dying, struggling masses around us?  Comparing ourselves or seeking help from them?  How easy is it, really, to look?

 Alma 47:46-47 :

46  O my son, do not let us be slothful because of the easiness of the way; for so was it with our fathers; for so was it prepared for them, that if they would look they might live; even so it is with us. The way is prepared, and if we will look we may live forever.

47  And now, my son, see that ye take care of these sacred things, yea, see that ye look to God and live...

He is there.  He is more real than those coaches at the Olympics, and He is ready, in a very real way, to take our faces in His hands and gaze into our hurting eyes and souls to reach us: "You messed up...but you can do it!  I am here!  Trust me!  You have trained your whole life for this moment! Don't give up!"