Two perspectives from the same view of reality.
Do you remember the first time you saw one of those Magic Eye posters, the ones that have a 3D image hidden in an abstract geometric pattern? When they first came out, I remember seeing a group of people in a mall standing around these unusual paintings. I was curious to see what everyone was looking at, so I stopped and looked on with them.
Some claimed to see amazing pictures with depth and perspective, showing vivid images of dinosaurs, airplanes and people. Others stood in disbelief, saying they couldn’t see a thing but an array of color and patterns. Some thought it was some sort of trick, wondering if those claiming to see something were deceived or just lying to deceive the rest of us. Yet one by one, most people would express their amazement and delight as the 3D image came into sight.
A few stared intently for the longest time but never saw anything and walked away perplexed, unsure if they had been deceived or cheated of an experience. The secret, of course, was to look not at the picture, but to look beyond the picture. Only by changing your focus could you see more than what was so obvious, yet so lifeless, on the surface.
I found that my experience in coming to God was much the same. For many years I thought that God and spirituality was just imagined by those claiming its truth. I thought that they were deceived and that I was the one who was seeing things so clearly. But then one day, God’s presence became a reality for me too. All of a sudden I saw with shocking clarity a depth and beauty to the world around me, and understood the love and glory of the God who had created it all. He was there all the time, but somehow I had only looked at the physical, and never saw beyond the surface.
There is an image that is hidden in the picture below, but it is only hidden until you see it once with clarity. Then you will always know that it is there and see it whenever you take the time to look beyond the surface.
God is there and waiting for you to see Him as well, and all you need is to find the part within you that reaches out to Him.
To see the image above, put your face up close to the monitor, let your eyes relax and focus in the distance past the monitor’s surface. Then, keeping your focus fixed in the distance, draw back very slowly to a distance of about two feet.
Finding God isn’t always easy, but all you really need to start is a humble heart, letting go of the pride and self-confidence that makes you so sure that you are right and instead yearning to seek wisdom from one far greater than yourself.
Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear?
Words of Jesus Christ, in Mark 8:18
He guides the humble in what is right and teaches them his way.
Psalms 25:9