“And God saw that it was good . . . very good!” Genesis 1

“I see the world, and I love it.” Isla Grace, age 3

Oh, what a beautiful morning! Oh, what a beautiful day

Think of how different our lives would be if every day we started out that way! Think of how different we would see the world, others, and ourselves!

How are you feeling today?  What are you seeing today?  Who are you loving today?

Today I am writing from my daughter Molley’s home in Colorado Springs. Her house sits in the shadow of Pikes Peak.  Sitting in the quiet darkness to start this day I was suddenly compelled to take a morning walk.  To my unexpected delight I discovered, or was led, to an open space not far from her house.  Stepping over a barbed wire fence I followed a path that led along an irrigation ditch.  Brown reeds and rushes and an occasional scraggly tree lined it’s banks.  The flow of the stream was a bit deceiving as it appeared to be going uphill.  The first rays of the rising sun were peeking out from behind the gently rolling hills, illuminating Pike’s Peak behind me, causing its snow-covered slopes to appear purple.  Peering behind me, not unlike Lot’s wife, I was turned not to a pillar of salt but rather into a vessel of pure joy, the sight not hardening but rather enlivening and inspiring me.  The snow-covered peak was painted purple in the morning light.  The majesty of God was both seen and heard as it broke forth in the silent symphony of creation’s first song. The sudden explosion of ducks taking flight from the water startled me and brought me back to my more immediate surroundings.  I was thankful, as there was a sudden movement on the other side of the ditch.  Two mule deer were leisurely loping away from me, no doubt annoyed at the intruder who had imposed upon their morning.  There was so much more to see and experience on this morning walk, the effect being that I was filled with wonder and awe at this divine welcome, and grateful that I had the opportunity to see the world and love it, as Isla Grace sang.

To have a cortical atrophy of the soul is a serious spiritual sickness.  Too often we sleep walk through life, being oblivious to the divine life daily springing forth around us.  But seeing the world goes far beyond one’s visual acuity.  While that in itself is a gift, the ability to gaze deeply beyond one’s immediate circumstances and below the surface of whatever troubled waters in life one may be navigating, takes intention and attention.  The intention is to see everything as good, and everyone as very good, as God initially did.  Far too frequently we fall into the trap of believing that the world in which we live is anything BUT good!  Western Theology after Augustine codified this in the doctrine of “original sin”.  It is the teaching that after The Fall everything and everyone was permanently tainted with sin and thoroughly painted inside and out with its effects. 

There were many unfortunate results of this teaching which we continue to see played out today, not the least of which is an overall negative perspective on the world as we know it.  To do so is to miss the majesty of God made so evident not only in mountains and meadows and mule deer, but in the most mundane situations, painful events, and unpleasant people!  To see beyond the obvious evils in the world, or surface sins, requires a much deeper and more spiritual seeing.

It means we must look through the iris of a child like Isla Grace.  One needs a kind of cataract surgery performed by The Spirit in which the lens of God’s love is implanted, resulting in seeing things and people not as black or white, but in the beautiful and bountiful colors reflected so resplendently by God’s resurrection rainbow still seen so clearly in the Christ of creation.  It means not submitting to the toxic brain washing and spirit squashing propaganda that promotes an agenda in which one sees enemies and ugliness everywhere.  It means looking below the surface of the world’s sometimes turbulent and muddied waters in order to peer deeply into the opaque depths of the divine.  It means seeing the love that IS God, and that the love of God is the formula that formed the foundation of the world.  It means seeing and believing that I AM God’s loving creation, that I Am fearfully and wonderfully made, and that I AM not defined by my misdeeds, life mistakes, or even by the most miserable of my earthly days!  It means knowing that God looks on me with nothing but love and delights in me just as Isla’s mommy and daddy delight in her! 

Knowing this—and so much more– means that I can and will see in the same way.

“I see the world, and I love it”. 

What will you see today in the world?

How will you see today in the world?

Where will you see Love today?