Beauty surrounds us, but we usually need to be walking in a garden to know it - Rumi
The other day I had to go to the opticians in the High Street for an annual eye test.
There are 143 references to eyes in the Bible according to a search of biblegateway.com. Perhaps the best known reference is “an eye for an eye”. In the Sermon on the Mount Jesus turns this round by saying that rather than extract revenge one should love his neighbour. Anyway at my age I suppose I was not too surprised to find that my eyesight had deteriorated so that new glasses were prescribed. I can now see more clearly; which leads neatly to St Paul’s letter to the young church at Corinth: For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. 1 Corinthians 13:12 (KJV) The message here, I believe, must be that as mere human beings we are not able, in this life, to grasp the enormity of God’s plan for us. Moreover, although we see God the Father when we see Jesus nevertheless we do not see Him fully; we are limited by our human nature. As St John says, Jesus is the Word of God; He is God speaking to us in terms we can understand. But yet we do not see God fully. Jesus shows us God’s love for us but because of our humanity we only see the faintest image of that love. Jesus himself tells us that He is the Way; in other words He is not the goal. That is an important point to keep in mind; it is God the Father who is the end and objective of our life on this earth and beyond. So even with our annual check-ups, our new improved lens we are still not able to see God’s plan for mankind clearly. But what we are able to see is the beauty of God’s Creation all around us. Just look out of the window at the trees, the flowers, the birds, the sunrise and the sunset. Here is God in all His glory. And what about our neighbour whom Jesus calls us to love; do we not also see God in him or her? Lord God we thank you for the gift of sight, that we may see the glory of your Creation in everything around us.
1 Comment
Steve Givens
17/10/2016 04:29:39 pm
Here's to clearer spiritual vision for us all...and to those checkups to remind us of what we are not seeing clearly...
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AuthorI am an Authorised Local Preacher in an Anglo Catholic parish church, in the Diocese of Essex UK Archives
February 2022
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