Day 29 :: You have to close your eyes to really see

The furniture is dressed in a fine layer of dust.

A trail of toys makes its way up the steps, some sort of game the girls are playing.

Shapes and blocks left over from a therapy session lie scattered across the living room floor.

There are spots on the kitchen floor, a mixture of grape juice and spaghetti sauce, I think.  And we haven't eaten spaghetti in a few weeks. 

My clothes lie loose around my middle, hiding the wrinkles and excess skin from bearing babies four times over. 

It's a glorious mess, this day in and day out life, and when I open my eyes it's all I can see.

My eyes are open and yet I'm blind.  

Can I look at the dust and thank God for the sunshine?

Can I walk along the trail of toys and rejoice in the imaginations of my children who play together each day?

And those shapes from therapy?  What a wonder it is to watch my little boy strive to crawl and learn new signs so he can communicate with us.

A messy kitchen floor?  I should be grateful for food to eat and a house to live in.

That wrinkly stomach of mine? Well, it's evidence of a miraculous God, creating life and bringing it forth.

Thankfulness, rejoicing, wondering at the awesomeness of God -- these are the things that I want to focus on in the day in and day out that I live. 

A friend's Facebook status a couple weeks ago said, "God, give me eyes to see your reality today, to see all the things that I can't see."

God's reality is found in the eternal, the things that are unseen.  Sometimes it takes closing my eyes to really see.

When I close my eyes I can see God's hand at work as I dwell on Him.  

I can see little children who need Jesus rather than seeing the messes that they make. 

I can see a woman who, although scarred by childbirth, is being changed by God through her children.

So, I'm learning to pause during my day in and day out glorious mess of a life, close my eyes, and re-focus my sight on those things that I can't see.  

The eternal things.

The Eternal One.

No longer blind, I see Jesus, the author and finisher of my faith.  

Now, when I open my eyes, I can "look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen.  For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal." 2 Corinthians 4:18

To really thrive I need to close my eyes. 

Close my eyes to the day in and day out and open my eyes to the wonder of the Eternal.  

For a list of all posts in this series go here.