The x-ray technician was wheeling me from the examination room to the radiology department for my surgery prescreening x-ray. Just as we turned the corner into the hallway, we passed a potted plant that had a little stuffed squirrel nestled among its branches.
“Look a squirrel,” I told him, expecting that he also had noticed the whimsical, unexpected animal.
“Oh that’s funny,” he said. “I’ve walked by here a hundred times, and I’ve never seen it before.”
“Well, you’re up there, and I’m down here,” I explained. “Maybe it’s easier to see down here.”
“Yeah, and I’m also trying to make sure I don’t run into any walls or knock off someone’s feet in the process,” he said.
We laughed.
All week I have been thinking about that squirrel, and thinking about all the other things I can see only when I am no longer in control, when I am being pushed around in a wheelchair by others and can see what they can’t because they are looking out for me.
“This is the essence of the sacramental,” Luci Shaw writes, in her book Breath for the Bones, “paying attention, noticing, discovering that material things remind us of – and point us to – the things we cannot see but that have ultimate and eternal reality and value.”
The past few weeks, I have been seeing life from a different perspective. I have been at the bottom, low and looking up, and I have been surprised at the things I have seen, all the ways God has shown himself to me, like the little squirrel peeking out of the potted plant. And I’m going to keep looking.
“God has a habit of surprising us with a vision of himself when we least expect it,” Luci said.
Only next time, I’m not going to be surprised.
Today, I am writing in community with others from theHighCalling.org. We are reading and writing together from Breath for the Bones – Art, Imagination, and Spirit: Reflections on Creativity and Faith, by Luci Shaw. Visit theHighCalling.org today to see what others are saying about chapters 9 and 10.
Photo by Nathan Laurell, via Flickr, used with permission under the Creative Commons License.
I love it that someone stuck the squirrel there, to add a little levity during a stressful time…for those who have eyes to see.
Love to you!
What a beautiful perspective! To see what others miss because you’re looking up. How profound and simply and like God! Your words make me want to see differently today. Thank you, Charity!
I like to think of it as looking with eyes of our heart. When we do, and so often it is from a place of trial, we see blessings we might otherwise miss.
You are so inspiring Charity. It is a privilege to see through your eyes.
…”Where we least expect it” is probably the most important place to be at any time. I’m so glad that God reaches out to us with his winks and nudges from time to time.
Oh, I think you might be :). And that’s a good thing, right? God surprises can be very good, right?
I love the way you see, Charity. You point me to Jesus every time I stop by.
What a fun reminder that the Lord sees us even though we don’t see Him always.