See as God sees?
Just what does this mean, seeing as God sees? Is it possible; and, if it is, just how do we “walk” into it?!
How could it not be possible? By God’s very nature, God is accessible, sharable, HERE. God’s being is a flow, a force, a way that is strong, fierce, undeterred, and unstoppable. It is like water. Stop it in one way, and it will find another.
We can participate in this flow. When we hope, when we do good, when we move ourselves, our brains, our bodies in any way toward what is good, we are, in fact, participating in God. Picture a light within your heart, this light representing the image of God we’re made with. Picture this image glowing bright when in participation. Asking to see as God sees is participating.
And we think nursing an anger is what makes us strong! Goodness! Just try this: Ask God to see as God sees, and not only mean it, but DO it. Dare to DO it. Come out of such a prayer and expect to see differently! No, it won’t make you some immediately lovey-dovey pushover. What it will do, with your concerted effort, is stop you up short in your flippant way of dismissing another person. It will stop you up short in how you perceive the situations you are in. It will stop you up short, as if you’d been so narrowly focused on the level, flat, boring path right in front of you, you missed entirely the height, depth, and vast goings-on around you. It is a frightening vision, yes, but it is one that also empowers.
Frightening and empowering. We tend to think those two contradictory. Ah! But this is the realm of God, and God is, very often if not always, both/and.
Reflection
Take the dare: commit yourself to spend time each day asking to see as God sees, and then actually go out and put that ability into practice.
Prayer
Do I want to see how you see, God? Might it change me? Might it take my world from small to big? Might it do anything I don’t want it to do? How could it? If you made me, if your image is within me, then seeing as you see has to be incredibly fulfilling, right? So be it, Lord: help me to see as you see. May I be attentive to the small changes, as your grace prepares me for the big ones. Amen.