Do you see what I see?

Things to children are never what they are to us. They see the world differently. That’s certainly the case with my boys. Driving along the waterfront, to my 6 year old,  it’s not Rangitoto Island we’re viewing, it’s Tracy Island, home to the Thunderbirds. It’s not just a plain cardboard box, it’s a briefcase for a super hero costume to be stored in, just in case. And it’s not just the packaging to Dad’s Superman Mug, it’s a house for Lego Superman! What I think is rubbish or junk is often squirrelled away in their rooms as treasure.

Michelangelo was the same. He saw art in the rocks that he then sculpted. He said “In every block of marble I see a statue as plain as though it stood before me, shaped and perfect in attitude and action. I have only to hew away the rough walls that imprison the lovely apparition to reveal it to the other eyes as mine see it.”

It’s all a matter of perspective, of looking a little further and deeper. It’s the same with us. We often see only our limitations, weaknesses, failings and faults. We can decide we’re nothing special. But God sees more. He see what we don’t. God knows what hidden treasure and potential He has placed in us. And it is to that treasure and potential that He focuses on and encourages us into.

When people saw a mere Shepherd Boy in David, God saw a King. Joseph was a prisoner but God saw the Leader. To most, Peter was just a common fisherman, however, God saw the rock upon which He would build His Church.

For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do. (Ephesians 2:10)