Framing and Focusing take Two

So here we are, on the second day of trying to gaze and prayerfully ponder the world as it is spinning and streaming past us.  As we engage this practice, it is good to realize that even with our hearts flung wide open, there will always be moments we miss.  Consider this, you could look at a picture a thousand times (after all the cliché goes that a photo is worth a thousand words) and still see something new every time.  You can visit a place over and over again, but still be surprised by something you didn't notice previously.  It may be because the space shifted or something new stirred within you.  It may be because you had always thought trees or flowers or birds to be a bit boring, but then an experience awakens you to the beauty of that part of creation.  Suddenly, everywhere you go there is a robin swooping into the scene.  Once you have seen anew and afresh, you cannot un-see.

Which brings me to this important truth:

We do not see things as they are, we see things as we are. 

The prayer practice of gazing at the world is not only so we might see the world differently, but also because we might gain new insights into ourselves.

Like a camera capturing a photo, we all have filters on the lens of our eyes.

Like the glasses on my face, there are things I can see clearly.  And there are places where the world becomes blurry because I've reached the edge of the lens.

Author Erwin McManus writes in The Artists Soul, "We are all interpreters.  We are translators of meaning, and everything we see, hear, smell, touch, taste, and experience is processed through our previous experiences and perceptions.  We don’t see people for who they are; we see them through the filer of everyone we’ve ever known."

Ever had a moment you gaze at someone and a sensation stirs within you like you’ve seen this stranger before?  There are times when I feel a strong shiver of déjà vu down my spine.  It might be because of the way the light is reflecting off the person's face he looks just like my uncle.  Or sometimes we long so deeply for something, we will ourselves through the strength of our mind to see the world that way.  We often call this, "Wearing rose colored glasses".  But the truth is, none of us have perfect vision for seeing the world.  All our glasses are smudged with what has happened to us in the days, weeks, months, and years before.  All of us perceive and receive the world through our experiences, encounters, and events called, “Our life”.  We filter through our beliefs, often clinging to what conforms to our understandings and setting aside that which challenges our worldview.

If, for example, we have been taught and told that people who are not in the same economic-social class as us are "lazy", we might miss people standing at the bus stop at 4 am to go to their first of two or three jobs to make ends meet.

If, for example, we have been taught and told that something is wrong, we might not be willing to listen to a story of someone who felt like she had no other choice.

There is not enough Windex that will completely clear away the cloudy mirror with which we see the world (see 1 Corinthians 13 where Paul prophetically talks about seeing in the mirror dimly).  We don't need to deny or defend that our framing and focusing has flaws, we need to acknowledge and accept, perhaps prayerfully learning something new about ourselves and others.

We do this by intentionally being open so that we can listen and learn.

When I put a frame and focus around the world to perceive, prayerfully ponder, and process, I am called to share what I am seeing.  I also need to listen and learn from what you are seeing, sensing, and prayerfully pondering.  Both are important.

Great insights and ideas come not only from within us, but between us when we are willing to let someone else's interpretation give voice to a truth we may have missed.  Great insights and ideas come not only from within us, but between us as our lives inter-act, inter-connect, forever reshaping the synapses of your mind.  You are who you are because of the way your mind and life have been fashioned/formed from the past.  At the same time, we are (to quote Kristen Bell) our own best science experiments.  We can re-form how, what, and the way we receive the world.  One way we can do this is when we stop glancing, skimming the surface, racing or running from one image to the next; and instead gaze, dive deep, and prayerful ponder one single image for several minutes.

In the coming days, I will offer you images to help begin to frame and focus.  While I realize staring at the screen of photos can be an isolated and individualistic activity, the power of the invitation comes when we do this communally and find connections to others.

Connections to others, not because we can all agree what was beautiful.  When we talk, it is not to debate why the photo posted in two weeks was so much better than the ones shared during the first week.  We don’t need to rate or rank my amateur photography or writing skills.  What I am offering is a toy from the toybox that I pray will help you connect to others.  To engage not only with what is being invoked in you but also hear what others are seeing.  When we give voice to what we see as beautiful and why, such sharing can enlarge and engage us.  When we perceive and receive what another is thinking, feeling, and experiencing; such sharing can cause our hearts, like the Grinch who stole Christmas, to grow three sizes in a few seconds.

Perhaps those moments might lead us to more than a trace of God's grace in these days.

Grace and peace ~