My husband and I just started a new hobby- photography. A got a “new” camera, some lenses, and a little bit of advice. Then all of the sudden I start seeing beauty everywhere knowing I just need to capture it behind a lens. It’s amazing how having a lens makes me see more beauty to capture.
Was it there before I had a camera?… yes…
Did I pay attention?… no…
For example, we have lived in our house for over 10 years. There has always been a red bird house on our front porch. There have also always been birds that came and went, making their nest, having babies, and go about their bird-like life. I never, not once, paid attention to the type of birds that live in there. I never, stopped to just watch how beautiful those two birds were as they sat on top of the bird house and sang.
Then I get a camera and I not only notice, but I wanted to see more. The kids and I looked it up, there are house sparrows. They, however, do not like to have their pictures taken…
Birds have always been there… but I just started to really see them.
Beauty has always been all around me, but once I had a lens to capture it with, I started to notice.
This is a beautiful picture of God’s activity in this world. He is at work. And it’s beautiful. But it’s easy to miss. We are so busy. We have agendas. We have goals. We have hobbies. We have a million reasons to NOT notice what God is doing. But He is doing it.
Is our world going through some crazy things? Absolutely. But there is nothing new under the sun!
Take your eyes off that storm and put them back on the beautiful Creator and His work! Will that lens make the problems go away- nope! But it will give you a new perceptive. A new hope. A new purpose.
Once you put on your Christian lens (and actually use it to see the world), you will see that activity. You will start to notice the beauty that our Great Artist paints in the sky, in nature, in other people. You will see that random gift as a blessing. You will hear a message preached and suddenly see how that applies to your life. You will have a fire in your heart to share.
God’s activity is all around us, you just have to make sure you are in a position to see it.
Use that Christian lens to see the world. This world is full of God’s beautiful creation, but sin threatens to destroy it all. Tell all the world about your lens too, so that they can also see the beauty all around them!
“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.” Ecclesiastes 3:11