Seeing Out of the Box

Every Mom is given a special gift. It is bestowed upon women when their children are young and is seen as a great gift by her family. It is the gift of sight. I remember as a kid, Mom seemed to have eyes in the back of her head and eyes that could see through walls and doors. How else could she walk in right as I was holding the scissors to cut the hair of her antique doll? Or how could she know my brother and I were sneaking cookies out of the freezer? I was in awe of this special gift but the one I was most in awe of was her ability to find things that were lost. I would search and search for something. She would walk into my room. Glance quickly and say, "If it was a snake it would have bit you." Hand me what I was looking for and walk back out. I stood with my mouth open wondering just how she did it.

Of course, somehow I was bestowed the same gift when I had children. I find myself repeating my Mom's words and telling my kids to "open your eyes, its right in front of you!" But still they can't see it. Perhaps it is not a gift of Mom's but a slow maturing skill of youth. Whatever it is, sometimes when I hear Jesus speak to his disciples, I think he sounds like a Mom trying to make them open their eyes and understand. Jesus saw the world with the eyes of the Messiah, God's son. In the Gospels, we see him trying to teach the disciples there is more around them than meets the eye. He was trying to get the disciples to see outside of their box. And as believers, he is also trying to get us to look outside of our small understanding of the world and to see a much bigger reality.

In the first four chapters of John, we see Jesus expanding the vision of the disciples and other witnesses at the Cleansing of the Temple. "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." Or with Nicodemus. "I assure you, unless you are born again, you can never see the Kingdom of God." Then again with the Samaritan woman. "But the water I give takes away thirst altogether." These statements make no sense when viewed within earth's framework. But Jesus is pointing to God's Kingdom and calling those who believe to see something more than what is in front of their eyes. In all of the Gospels, Jesus chastises those around him for not understanding what he is pointing to, something outside the box. He challenges the disciples to open their eyes.

For me, I know when I was living away from God I lost the vision I once knew. When the Spirit within me is leading me, I see things differently. I see the needs of others, not just my own needs. I understand my own attitudes as sinful where before I justified them as necessary. Things I hadn't seen before are now clear as day. Just as Jesus called his disciples to look beyond the earth and themselves, the Spirit leads me to see beyond my own limited world. We need Kingdom eyes, not earthly eyes in order to see all the glorious gifts God has given us which "if they were a snake just might bite us."

For further reading: 1 Corinthians 13:12; Mark 4:10-13