Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31)
I will instruct you and teach you the way you should go;
I will counsel you with my eye upon you. (Psalm 32:8)
I have two obstacles to overcome whenever I sit down to read.
Obstacle number one: I fall asleep. It’s not the reading that causes me to get drowsy, it’s the sitting. You should see me on an airplane – I’m asleep before we even leave the gate. Perhaps I’m paying for those late nights when I was younger.
Obstacle number two: Gwen. Our cat. We have twin Maine Coon cats, Gwen and Grace. Gwen likes to lay on my lap when I’m sitting down. That’s fine, except for the fact that she weighs about 25 pounds. However, she doesn’t like it when I read: there can’t be anything between us because she wants me to look at her. In the eye. She will keep eye contact until she falls asleep. And even when she seems to be asleep, she will crack open one eye from time to time to make sure I’m still looking at her.
Apparently, Gwen wants my full and complete attention. She wants to be seen. I imagine it makes her feel secure, loved and cared for. But, isn’t that what we all want – to truly be seen?
There’s seeing and there’s seeing. How we look at things makes a difference. Let’s begin with how we look at ourselves.
How do you see yourself? Do you see yourself as you truly are, or as you would like to be? Do you see the good, or only the bad? Looking at yourself honestly and objectively is probably the hardest thing you will ever do. It can be painful. However, it’s imperative if you really want to see others clearly. If you don’t, your anxieties and emotional baggage will distort your vision. Think about it: we take the things that we most dislike about ourselves (often subconsciously) and project them onto other people.
In order to have clear vision, we need to be courageous enough to strip away all the false narratives we’ve created and deal with who we truly are. Then we can see ourselves and others without distortion.
Projecting our unattractive traits onto others prevents us from seeing them as they truly are. When that happens, we are only seeing a shadow of the other person, not the real person. It leads us to be overly and unfairly critical. It also prevents us from seeing them as children of God, worthy of our love and care.
Speaking of God, who doesn’t want to see God? The truth is, we see God every day, we’ve just lost the ability to recognize God. Or maybe we don’t want to recognize God, so we drift through life with blinders to the reality around us. God is in every act of kindness; God is the caregiver who thanklessly gives comfort day in and day out; God is the outcast, the guy on the street with the cardboard sign asking for help; God is the inmate, unjustly incarcerated. God is the people we avoid looking at. I could go on and on. We can see God if we’re willing to open our eyes.
What if we all opened our eyes? What if we took the time to take a good honest look at the world around us? I suspect we are missing a lot, especially in other people simply because we’re not paying attention. What are other people not seeing in you? Just as we want to see others clearly, we also want to be seen clearly by others. We want to be seen and valued for who we truly are. Like our cat Gwen, we want to feel loved and cared for.
Have you ever spoken with someone while they were looking at their phone? Did you feel as if you had their complete attention? Did you feel loved? Valued?
On the other hand, have you ever spoken with someone who gave you their complete attention? Who listened as if what you were saying was of the utmost importance to them? How did that make you feel?
The good news is that we have God’s complete attention. God sees us, truly sees us. Not the false self we present to others, not the shadow we present to ourselves, but who we truly are. And God loves us.
Grace to you and peace.
– Just a note about a different ICU. Currently there is an uptick in Covid-19 cases and patients (most unvaccinated) are filling ICU’s across the country. Please include not only them in your prayers, but also the hospital staff who are stretched to the breaking point. The best thing we could do for them would be to get vaccinated and follow the CDC guidelines.
Lastly, some good advice from the Psalm for this coming Sunday:
Depart from evil, and do good; seek peace, and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14)
Divine Overtones 