March 16, 2012 It's all about perspective

Ephesians 4:18  Having their understanding darkened, being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them, because of the blindness of their heart.

I love walking the beach, looking for story-starters, bits of flotsam and jetsam that turn into lines of a poem or find their way into a story or an essay.  I came home from a birthday trip to Connecticut today with a little box full of story starters, along with a couple of pieces of wood too large to fit in my little plastic box.

It was a freakishly warm March, yes March, day, and we wandered the beach, just above the water’s edge where the wet sand was easier to walk on.  Though the cloudless sky was a brilliant blue, my eyes were directed at my feet searching for unique shells or sea glass or …just one of the treasures I am going to tell you about here. 

Just under the lip of a hillock of sand, I saw an oval object, smooth like an egg, it looked, but dark, perhaps the darkness of having emerged recently from a stray tidal wave.  Anyway, I picked it up, and the surface, bumps polished smooth by endless thrashing about in the waves weighed comfortably in my hand.  Half the size of an egg, it lay there, heavy for its size until I could resist it no more, and it went among the “saved for later” souvenirs.

Thursday morning, I spilled my treasures out into the light, and there it lay, a pale pink surface, speckled with tiny black bits, and in a child’s language, covered with diamonds. Now I know they were not diamonds, but  tiny reflective surfaces catching and spinning back at me glittery silvery light

As I thought about it, this verse came to mind, Having their understanding darkened.  When I picked the stone up Wednesday, mu understanding was darkened, maybe by my sunglasses, but I sure didn’t see the beauty that waited for me.  On Thursday, I wondered too what other beauty I miss because of the blindness of my heart; as Paul puts it in the same passage, v. 20, “But ye have not so learned Christ.”

Two things came to mind – when have I missed beauty because I chose my way, ignoring the Spirit who poked at me to go in another direction. AND when have I missed beauty because I took no time to think something through, when I jumped to a conclusion based on old news or past prejudices. Like the rock I almost tossed back, I wonder how many people I have tossed back, missing the beauty and light God wanted to show me through them.