I had the privilege of stealing away for an overnight trip with a leadership team I serve with at my church. We got to stay in a beautiful lake house in the mountains. It was the first time I’ve been away from my family in a year and 3 months. I was like a kid in a candy store not only just for the opportunity to be with sisters in Christ, but also to see a different scene than I’m used to. I kept having to pop up from my comfy seat on the couch to go snap a picture of the changing sky we kept getting to witness. I couldn’t help myself. From the same spot, we got to see different views. Some things remained constant. The trees in the foreground were steady. The rocking chairs were positioned in the same spot. The ground was solid. But the sky…was a rotating showcase of masterpieces. From the same vantage point, I saw the space before me with a new perspective every so often. This past year, the same thing happened in my backyard.
It’s like this in life, too. We are present for the scenes of our lives. Some things remain the same in our ever changing views: the fact of who God created us to be, the space that only we can occupy, and our unchanging, ever constant God.
Then, other things change. The scenes rotate from where we stand. God is displaying His glory and creative brush stroke with each portrait our eyes get to see. Sometimes the view is bright, filled with vivid colors, and obviously beautiful. Other times, it is dusk and we can only see silhouettes. And then? Sometimes, we can barely see anything at all and our eyes must search for the beauty that can only be seen under moonlit skies. Intermittently, the light of the moon can even be cloaked by clouds, making it even harder to find beauty.
The role of an art patron is to make the intentional decision to pause and notice what’s on display from the hand of the artist, all from the perspective in which the spectator stands.
What views are you witnessing from where you stand today? Are you taking it strictly for face value or are you noticing what the artist has strategically displayed for your specific eyes to see? Are you able to find His beautiful touch even in the darkest scenes? Does your heart process what it’s seeing only by the moment or with the long view of God’s eternal portrait gallery as a filter? These are questions you might consider as you seek to gain fresh eyes for the portraits you’ve been given to see.
Look for what you can’t see with your earthly eyes. Look for what only your soul can witness as you encounter brushstrokes with His glory.
Lord, help us to see what we can’t naturally see. Give us your eyes and eternal perspective.
“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” 2 Corinthians 4:18