It is pretty far reaching to imagine seeing others always and only as God sees them.

Our vision spot on and untainted by our wrongs and by theirs.

I sat amongst others observing interactions, hearing bits of conversations.

Watching some speak with microphones and others being spoken of, spoken for.

I wondered if the ones unable to speak freely would have or could have said more.

The ones who were tentative in accepting an invitation to speak, were they prepared?

Were they as free in their sharing as they’d wished they could be?

Thing is, life is a stage and we arrive as audience sitters either hoping to go unnoticed or longing to just have a chance to share our “take”.

“Ears to hear and eyes to see— both are gifts from the Lord.”

‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭20:12‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Our experiences leak in and muddy our waters, most of us have an undercurrent of fear, of well disguised vulnerabilities that we mask when amongst others.

Then we’re alone and we contemplate our worth, we question our belonging.

We decide we’ve been tricked, wronged, not measured up.

Thankfully, we get quiet and recognize our vision blurred by pasts wrongs and chunks of time devoid of being known and acknowledged.

We decide to accept that we may see things wrongly, that we are looking through old dirty and damaged glasses.

Our notice of others in negative ways just doesn’t fit anymore.

We want to be kinder, gentler or at least, accept there are battles everyone is fighting we just will never know.

We’d rather be soft than bitter.

Hard words and harsh responses have worn us out, we don’t have time for remorse anymore.

We’d rather offer an open door, only if barely cracked than shut the door and lock it, forbidding any reconciliation, any chance at all of relationship.

Do you ever wonder, How does God want me to grow here?

How does God see what I am seeing?

Are my heart’s eyes wrong?

In a room filled with a variety of characters all vying to be known or to belong.

What, I wonder, does God see of the looked over, the forgotten?

The one who arrived but felt unwelcome.

I believe He sees them, sees me.

God sees weakness when I see arrogance. God sees grief’s lingering hold when I see nervousness. God sees fear when I see avoidance. God sees striving to maintain an image when I see condescension.

God understands people.

Oh, to see as God sees.

God sees my misplaced confidence in self when I beg for the notice of others.

What is it that God sees in you that may be misunderstood by others?

What would God say about how you’re seeing someone today?

Can our tainted vision of others based on experiences be rewritten, readjusted, without preconceived judgment?

I believe it can.

The surrender circle this morning?

Jotted adjacent, today’s note to self:

God sees differently.

Sees me, sees others.

Down deep flaws and faults used to cover or lessen their showing.

God sees differently.

What if my surrender included the surrender of “my take on things”, my perception of another’s behavior tainted by some weakness or harm I will never know they are carrying?

What if I see me and see others through the eyes of redemption, through the lens of hope that knows all and never says no?

We have this in common, all of us, humans seen by a compassionate God.

Our tainted selves, He sees untainted.

We, after all are His vision, His creation.

It can be so. It is not easy.

Oneness with God, closer to understanding others as we adjust our perceptions.

We have to want it, untainted vision that chooses not seeing through eyes that are old, not seeing the same.

Same old same.

Old.

Eyes that see in new ways.

Eyes untainted.

Continue.

Continue and believe.