See

I was first introduced to this theme of 'see' a few years ago. I had gotten the CD from Sam that Steven Curtis Chapman made after his daughter was killed in an accident at home. . In the pamphlet that goes with the CD, before the lyrics to the song "SEE" is this paragraph: . "This little three letter word took on enormous meaning to my family and me on May 22nd of 2008. The day after Maria went to Heaven, Mary Beth and I went to our house with friends to get some clothes for the next few days. We had decided to stay with our friends, The Andersons, until we felt we could return to our house for good. We walked from room to room feeling like we were lost in some big terrible dream and tried to imagine ever living in the house again that had suddenly become so terribly quiet and empty. As I walked through the dining room, I noticed a piece of paper on Maria's little art table where she and her sister would spend hours coloring and drawing and cutting and gluing. (Maria especially loved the gluing part!) On the piece of paper was a flower that had been drawn and colored with markers. It was one of Maria's signature flowers that she loved to draw, but this one appeared to be unfinished as only one of the 6 petals was colored in with blue marker. . .the others were just outlined. Then I noticed something was written with marker on the back side of the paper. Now let me back up for just a minute and explain one other part of this story. Shortly after Maria had been carried away to Jesus, all of us, and particularly Caleb and I began to talk about how desperate we were just to 'SEE' something. . . a dream or a vision .. anything that would help confirm in some tangible way what we were holding on to by faith, that Maria was truly 'okay' and even more than 'okay' that she really was safe in the arms of Jesus. It was a plea that I heard us all say several times in those first hours. . 'God, please just let us 'SEE' something!' So back to the flower artwork on the table. I turned the page over and was completely stunned to find a word written on the back in Maria's handwriting. To any of our knowledge she knew only 6 words that she could write. . ."I love you", "Mom", "Dad", and her name, "Maria". But there on the back of the paper she had written in all capital letter the word, 'SEE'. Even as one who is usually careful not to attach more meaning to something than it deserves, I was and still am completely convinced that this was a precious 'gift' from the broken heart of our Father in Heaven delivered through our daughter's own hand the very morning before she left us for Heaven. . . I could picture the face of our little girt smiling at us and saying 'SEE' mom and dad. SEE everybody, it's just like you said, only so much better . . .and I really am 'okay'. And it was our Father's way of saying 'SEE' with eternal eyes. SEE that I have your little girl safe and sound with me and SEE by faith My promise of the day that's coming very soon when I will make everything new and wipe every last one of those tears from your eyes'. It wasn't until several days later that we also began to recognize a significance in the 'unfinished' flower that she had drawn on that same paper. Of the petals, only one was colored in with her favorite color, blue. Of our six children, only one has been completely 'colored' and made whole. The rest of us are still waiting for that coming day when finally we will clearly and completely SEE. 1 Cor. 13:12. . Many people probably believe that this was a coincidence and that the Chapman family is reading in to things and grasping at straws. I firmly believe that our Father loves us so much that He purposefully does things like this for us - if we have eyes to 'SEE'. So many times in Scripture, God talks about those who would only have 'eyes to see and ears to hear' that they may - not only be saved, but also might see Him as they walk through this world. So much is dependent on our perspective and - most of the time - we are responsible for our perspective. To a large degree, we choose what we meditate on. We choose whether we will - at least TRY - to see things from God's point of view, our our own. . If we ask and if we try, He helps us to 'SEE' as He sees. Yeah, it takes time. It takes WANTING to see it His way. If I keep trying to 'fit' what I want into what He says, then I am not really wanting to SEE it His way. I guess it takes a lot of humility. Humility is seeing things - myself especially - in a right manner, not thinking too highly of myself but also not thinking too LOWLY. I know that I tend to lean on THIS end. I think it's the 'evangelical' form of pride. I don't mean the 'try harder' thing either. Sometimes I think we try too hard. We get so caught up in the 'trying' that we lose sight even easier of our Father. I believe we need to 'make space' in our lives to SEE and HEAR. If I keep movement, noise and busyness in my life, all day, it is hard to hear what is being 'whispered' in my ear. I won't SEE the things in my day that He puts there because I will be distracted. Anyway, this post has gotten long. In the next post, I will be talking about another facet of 'SEE'. Thanks again for listening!! Jill, your fellow traveler in this journey to our Father's heart!!