I like to watch people in lots of different places – starbucks, airports, grocery stores, etc. Sometimes when I watch people I’m awestruck at how beautiful & magnificent each person is. Some people have beautiful eyes or beautiful hair. Some people have rustic beauty & others are beautiful because of their regal stature. But people are beautiful – made in the image of our Creator & everywhere, they are beautiful, way beyond being broken 
Posts Tagged 'vision'
People are beautiful
Published August 30, 2012 Holy Spirit , living , relationships , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: beauty, creation, people, vision
faith doesn’t always require sight
Published August 8, 2012 enemies to intimacy , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: faith, moon, sight, vision, watch
For whatever reason, I woke up feeling very perky at 4am today. Obviously it was still dark when I came downstairs to get the morning coffee brewing. And as I sat on the couch with the lights off, I looked up at the window & noticed the bright & beautiful half moon. I started thinking about the moon & how I could only see half, but knowing that the moon merely reflects different amounts of the sun – a sliver, quarter, half, 3/4, whole. Nevertheless, no matter how much of the moon we see, we absolutely know that it’s a whole object & not only the part that we see. Furthermore, the longer I sat & observed, the moon was soon blocked by our house as the earth rotates toward the sunrise.
So from my early morning observations of the moon, here are a few take-aways:
- just because we only see parts & slivers of God’s work doesn’t mean that God isn’t wholly working & doing things throughout our lives – even in the seasons when we can’t see any direct evidence
- sometimes situations “block” our ability to see God & in these instances, we can trust that God loves us & is continuing to shine & work in our lives
what are your options?
Published February 29, 2012 Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual 1 CommentTags: choices, faith, options, vision
I recently read about when the Jews left their slavery in Egypt & I came across an interesting verse, when they were being chased by Pharoah. At the end of Ex 14:12, the Jews are complaining to Moses & they say something like, “It would have been better to stay as slaves in Egypt than to die here in the wilderness.” I started thinking about this & it really hit me that they only saw 2 options: slavery or death.
Unfortunately, I think we make the same mistake when we exclude God from His involvement in our lives. Truly, without God’s participation & involvement in our lives, we face the same kinds of options that the Jewish people saw at that time. In contrast, it seems to me that the more we involve God in our lives, the greater the adventures, miracles, shock and awe!! So let’s make sure to include God more & more in our lives
Visual Clarity
Published January 1, 2012 family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , relationships , spiritual 1 CommentTags: perspective, sight, vision
I’ve been thinking alot about having clear vision – maybe this has been on my mind because I’ve been looking for one of my kids’ glasses
Nevertheless, seeing things clearly is extremely important. The clearest & most truthful vision is when we see as God sees, from His point of view. With this in mind, I’m praying Prov 20:12 for this year – that God let’s me see & hear as He sees & hears. Human perspective is fuzzy, unclear & opaque at best, but God knows & sees the truth and I want to see as He sees for 2012 & beyond
Focus Grasshopper :)
Published November 18, 2011 Holy Spirit , living , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: focus, help!, stress, vision
When I get into some stressful situations or seasons my focus can get kind whacky. In these seasons, I sometimes allow myself to distracted on peripheral & meaningless stuff or I’ll dig into a book or sometimes I ramp up my music intake.
As I start looking forward to the upcoming holiday season, I can feel myself getting “jittery”.
So what I would like to do better in these stressful seasons & situations is to keep my focus on Jesus more & less on the stress. Some ways that help me to keep my focus on Jesus better include:
*remembering some key Bible verses like Ps 55:22 & Ps 54:4 (telling myself these verses when I’m getting jittery
*be thankful – when I start to compile a “thankful list”, I often find that any stress gets lessened
*consider the immensity of God in relation to the things I’m uptight about
*church – there’s a very unique experience when I’m involved in a community that’s is collectively focused on worshipping Jesus. This helps my focus in ways I haven’t yet been able to put into words
Focus is key 
some thoughts on being still & quiet
Published November 4, 2011 enemies to intimacy , family , Holy Spirit , living , prayer , spiritual 1 CommentTags: discipline, distractions, help!, hope, interruptions, listen, still, vision
I made a comment this morning on my fb page about how it helps to hear God when we are still & quiet. I wanted to follow up on this comment because I think that for many of us, it’s difficult to be still & quiet. We live in a really busy, loud, active & demanding world. Between our smart phones, the internet, twitter, conventional media, family schedules & demands, etc, it can be seemingly impossible to find quiet & still. Furthermore, when we do get a moment to catch our breath, our mind is usually racing trying to organize schedules, figure out what we need to do next, hum a favorite tune, etc. Still & quiet seem like elusive & ethereal ideals for people that have lived in a different era or even a different planet.
But for me, still & quiet is essential and it takes some intentionality. For me, I’ve found it super helpful to get up early before everyone else to acquire some stillness before the demands of the day hit the fan. Furthermore, I am also intentional about when & how much music & external stuff I listen to, focus being the operative word.
When I’m still & quiet, with God’s help, I focus my attention toward God with the intent of giving the Trinity my undivided attention (without distraction, interruption or competition). I need to wholly be with my Creator & yes, this requires discipline, some failures & some successes. But the rewards of greater intimacy & fellowship with God are indescribably worth the efforts & discipline – indeed, living water, breath of life & more.
lessons from an eye exam
Published September 14, 2011 family , Holy Spirit , living , saving moses , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: distance, eye dr, faith, far sighted, myopia, near sighted, vision
I took my son to the eye dr today because he’s been a bit challenged with a few things. When they checked his eyes, they were super thorough & examined his vision for both distance & close up. This eye dr visit is a whole new thing for me because I’ve never had any issues with my eyes. Nevertheless, it made me think about my focus as it pertains to faith. Myopic vision is vision that can see pretty well up close, but not so well far away. The opposite is true with far-sightedness.
I think that the same is sometimes true with our faith. Sometimes, it seems like I can have strong faith for what could be an immediate & up close challenge, but struggle in my faith for what seems far away (like some concerns about the future or places where I may be traveling, etc). Or maybe the opposite is more true for you – maybe you struggle with your faith in the immediate day-to-day challenges, but the stuff that’s more distant is much easier for your faith. Whatever may be your challenge, we can trust that God is the best vision Dr & can help us to keep our eyes on Him for both the up close & immediate stuff, as well as the things that are farther away & distant. So like it says in Hebrews 12 – let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author & perfecter of our faith
i have a sty in my eye
Published July 10, 2009 living , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: eye, judgment, motive, vision
I’m a bit frustrated w this eye sty thing. My facebook friends have given me lots of prayer & ideas to get rid of the silly thing & i’m really grateful. i also think its kind of humorous when i consider that last week, i did a message on taking the speck out of someone else’s eye, based on what Jesus said in Matt 7:1-5 relating to having a beam in our own eye.
So here’s the relevance: we all see problems in other people’s lives – hypocrisy, insecurity, obsessive behaviors, addictions, insincerity, . . . . its very easy to “see” the faults of others & we can be really quick to try & point out the problems of others. But before we begin taking out the speck out of someone else’s eye, let’s ask ourselves 3 questions:
- Is the speck in the person’s eye more accurately a reflection of the beam in your own eye?
- Is the speck in the person’s eye a “deflection” (distraction) from the beam in your eye?
- What is your motive in trying to get the speck out of the other person’s eye?
Having a sty in my eye has made me very sensitive & aware of my eye & i think perhaps God is working w me to clear up some personal issues & to clean up some motives in my attempts to help others. See any areas where God wants to grow you??
lessons from snowboarding
Published March 8, 2009 living , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: faith, seeing, sight, snowboarding, vision
Last weekend, i had an exciting time snowboarding. it was really overcast & i couldn’t read the snow on the ground from the air above it, no contrast (no line on the horizon) & so i couldn’t tell what the ground was doing. i couldn’t see if it was rising or falling, if the snow was bunched up or iced out. initially, it was pretty scarey to ride this, not being able to really see where you’re going very well, or determine what the snow’s like. but i discovered a trick – if i didn’t use my eyes as much, i could focus on how my board felt, how the snow felt under the board & how the board & i worked together. so i’m trying to learn how to ride without my eyes as much & more by feel.
This goes along w what Paul says in 2Cor 5:7 – we walk by faith & not sight. if we let our eyes tell us where we’re going, then the world is in a sad state of affairs. i like what Bono says: vision over visibility.
vision check up
Published February 12, 2009 living , spiritual Leave a CommentTags: darkness, gray, Jesus, light, vision
I have a really cool eye dr. I’ve gone to him since i was in high school – so that’s a good amount of time. He’s always the same – nice, cordial, polite . . . . He never changes, even when i forget to make an appointment for a check up for 7 years or so. Whoops! Nevertheless, your eyes are really important. They allow you to collect visual information to be processed by your brain. If your eyes start messing up, then the information sent to your brain can be faulty & therefore the conclusions that your brain makes can easily be flawed & you can make some very poor decisions.
Jesus talks about the importance of your eyes in Matt 6:22-23, basically saying that if your eyes are bad, your whole body will be full of darkness & if your eye is clear, then your body will be filled w light. If you’ve made some poor decisions, then consider the information on which you made such decisions. Perhaps the information you were using had shades of gray, maybe you were trying to keep a foot in the light & still dabble in some hidden areas. Traffic experts tell us that the most common times for auto accidents are during twilight.
Live in the light – the light of Jesus & don’t try to see with compromised light. Come into the light. Stay in the light. Live in the light.
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