Tuesday With Teri

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                      As I looked out the window of the plane I saw the familiar clouds dotting the sky beneath me.  I’ve seen clouds before…I’ve even seen them from the window of a plane on more than one occasion…but for some reason this day they looked different.  The white puffs were protruding toward me like an image on a 3-D screen.  The bright blue sky looked as if it hung miles below the suspended stacks of billowing clouds.  They hovered like the giant helium balloon figures in a Macy’s Thanksgiving Day parade.  I felt compelled to look for the numerous ropes leading to hundreds of people on the ground tasked with keeping the clouds from floating out into space.  These were just clouds…but I saw them this day in a different way.  I’m not sure why I never saw them like this before…was it just perspective?  I thought back to a sermon I heard recently.

          “How many of us see the world, but not the work of the Lord?”  The question floated out over the congregation like a rain filled cloud.  We had just read the accout of Saul’s encounter with God.  Saul’s sight was lost for a while, but this would lead him to become a follower and servant of  the Lord.  In the midst of these verses was a short powerful note… “Saul got up from the ground, but when he opened his eyes he could see nothing..” Acts 9:8.    I could not stop thinking about those words.  I’ve always thought I was spiritually aware…but this question, and those words, hung around my heart as if an early morning fog was settling in.   My eyes are open, but am I seeing what God wants me to see?  Do I see His workmanship?  Am I missing a better view?  Is there more to what I am looking at?   It is possible to “look” and not “see”.    It is like when we hear something, but do not listen.  As a former high school teacher I can attest to the possibility of someone “hearing” your words and still missing your message.  I have given numerous “brilliant” lectures, unlocking powerful educational truths, only to later realize none of them had any idea what I was trying to teach them.

            The more I watched the volumous piles of white outside the plane window, the more I realized how much I may be missing.  God surrounds us with so much of Himself, I don’t want to miss any of it. 

 Lord, help us draw closer to You, so that we  may not miss

 one moment, movement or message which You set before our eyes.