When you look at the picture above, what do you see? I see a building surrounded by beauty. I am drawn to find out its’ history. If you feel the same way as I do, you’ll want to know that this “ruin” has a name. Its name is “The Office”. It originally was a hospital during a flu epidemic approximately 100 years ago. The hospital eventually closed and became “The Office” for collecting rent. It has a story, a name, a heart.
All of us have a story, a name, a heart. Isn’t there beauty everywhere? If we just “look” and not “see”, we miss out on so much. There was a time when I had closed down. I just looked at the world, at people. I was searching for the self I had lost and disassociated with seeing the world around me. I didn’t want to stop looking and truly see who and what was around me. Why?
I believed that I had to change to be part of a family, a group. I lost myself trying to be someone I wasn’t. I conformed. It wasn’t even to make myself better. There was nothing wrong with who I was. As a result, I became silent. Those who really know me will find that statement very funny. I looked at my reflection and found a stranger -someone I didn’t recognize.
I have regained most of me, but with age comes change. I am comfortable with who I see. I’m not one to impress. I wear holes in my jeans, converse sneakers, huge sweatshirts and no make-up. It is the real me. Recently, while in a foreign country fresh off the plane, I was eyed up and down by the security guards in the city’s shopping district. I laughed.
I didn’t fit in and I found it humorous. Everyone was dressed up. There was no way I was changing my clothes to window shop. My point is that the guards looked at me, but they didn’t see me. They missed the light in my eyes. The light that lived in my heart. They couldn’t see beyond my weathered, holey Levis. They missed my smile filled with joy. So sad for them…for me.
To really truly see, you must be able to look beyond the outside and delve deep within. In friends, family, and acquaintances, you may see what you never saw before. Don’t look. See the light that lives in a person’s heart. Seeing may enable you to see God’s love and light shining back at you. By seeing, you may shed the layers of protection surrounding you. Seeing will allow others to see Him in you.
©ColtonDixonMusic
