Have you ever stopped to look around you? You may look at some object either superficially as if ‘Ok, it is there, so what?’ OR you may look at an object in entirely different way, as if with new eyes.
Here is an example: When you drive to work, you may be driving down the highway and there are trees on the left and right but you are so busy thinking about your work day that you hardly notice them, yet they are there day after day. Trees are not often appreciated, but what if they weren’t there one day? A builder decided to build a superstore and cut them all down. You would suddenly notice they are missing and perhaps be sad because the landscape is not as pleasing as it once was.
Now I want you to think of a flower, a rose for example. We enjoy its color and fragrance and then walk away, but what if we perceive this rose with new eyes and appreciate that its beauty is communicating to us a message? Then gazing at this rose we would see something far deeper than just its external beauty; instead we would have a small taste of paradise. When we love someone we offer them roses as a symbol of our love. In the same way, the hand of the Craftsman Who created this delicate rose is One Who loves us and sweetly gives us this beauty to enjoy.
Have you ever noticed how beautiful fruit is: so many different colors and shapes, each fruit delicious with its own unique taste? What about the variety of vegetables and their different colors and shapes? Have you ever marveled that the Craftsman Who created these intended them to be healthy for us?
What about the human being? Have you ever looked into a person’s eyes and appreciated the beauty of their heart, their soul, their being? Perhaps we have forgotten to appreciate each other, but what if there were only ten people on earth? In that case, each individual person would be precious indeed and our appreciation for one another would be far greater.
Our modern daily schedule is so hurried that we have forgotten to truly look around us and appreciate what we have been given, but if we take the time to stop and look and listen, a wonderful paradise will be opened to us which is a far greater treasure than all the silver and gold in the world.
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Then He [Jesus] turned to His disciples and said privately,
“Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings
wanted to see what you see but did not see it, and to hear what you hear but did not hear it.”
(Luke 10:23-24)
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