In Another's Eyes

Isn’t it amazing to know what other people think about you, to see yourself through their eyes while they see someone totally different than the you you thought you were?

Case in point:  yesterday at the dermatologist’s office when getting my annual checkup, I was not happy.  Fearful.  My trepidation was at an all-time high because...well, just sometimes you know that there is going to be something found that you wished was not in existence.  I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve (no matter how many times I try to wear a garment that is sleeveless!) and as I was being examined, the nursing assistant glibly said, “See.  We’re 40% done and no problems yet!”  During the preliminary account of why I was there, I had explained to her that trouble loomed.  Though I said it jokingly, the underlying uneasiness was there, just under the surface, but we were strangers and she didn’t really pick up on it.

“Yeah,”   I said, “but now we’re getting to my face.  That’s where the problems start.”  I still had on my smile but my anxiety was pushing its way up.

Katie, my doctor who apparently had been given the preliminary account of why I was there for today’s visit, continued her exam, murmuring what she thought were encouraging words.  I tried to follow her lead as each troubled area I had notified the nurse of beforehand turned out to be fine.  “Great!  Maybe the rest won’t be bad either.  Oh, I hope that they won’t; that it’s just my imaginations.”  

The banter continued, even when she started getting closer and closer with that magnifying glass.  The two spots I thought were going to do me in?  Well, sure, that one could use a little freezing--just to be safe-- and the other one, the one she could barely see, it was fine too, Katie said, and I breathed a sigh of relief.  As I exhaled and explained how usually twice a week I had to flake off the what-I-hoped-were-just-dry-skin-particles of my flesh, Katie said “You are the most hopeful person I know!  Every time I see you, you are full of hope that these places aren’t going to be bad.”  Dumbfounded, my eyes found Steve’s as I looked at him with my “Does-this-woman-know-me-at-all” baby blues that reflected my perplexed thoughts.

Long story short, my fears were confirmed.  As Katie continued looking at that “nothing” spot and scraping it with her fingernail, she determined it indeed needed to be biopsied.  Great.  And then, as if that wasn’t enough, she found another place above my lip that greatly concerned her.  I hadn’t even noticed it and felt the dread rise again.  Basal cell.  99% sure it would need the Moh’s Surgery.  Katie fixed her eyes on Steve as my “hopeful” words that maybe it was just a fluke faded into my own private chamber of terror.

Sigh.

You know that verse from 2 Corinthians 13:5 about examining yourself?  It was running through my head as I questioned how I could have missed this spot, how it was so obvious to my doctor and yet Steve nor I had even given it a passing glance.  Seriously, I have had four Moh’s surgeries on my face, as well as the “blue light special” that was supposed to remove so many of these precancerous blights.  Not to even mention all of those places I had already had frozen off from my face.  So, how in the world could I have missed this one?!

{Sidebar:  this also makes the verse about seeing the mote in my brother's eye and missing the plank in my own (Matthew 7:5)}

Sigh.

“You are the most hopeful person I know.”  That was Katie’s take on me when she had begun my routine exam.   She saw something in me that I didn’t.  And I don’t just mean the basal cell.  Her appraisal of me--outwardly--revealed a hopeful soul that looked for the good, that hoped for better things to come, and one who was ready and willing to push aside the things that try to make one stumble.  We see each other roughly once a year (well, twice if you count when I go back for the follow-up surgeries that are performed by her colleague).  Somehow when I am with this kind lady I have projected an attitude that is pleasing.  She saw good in me.

As mentioned above, when I had inspected myself, I didn’t find this blight on my skin that is going to require further attention.  I saw other infractions that in Katie’s eyes weren’t there or were only superficial.  Things gals like me have to deal with as a part of life but that don’t take away from the quality of my life as a whole.

Is any of this making sense?  Katie--with her trained eyes and advanced understanding of the human body--saw things from my soul that I had failed to believe existed.  Katie--again, with her trained eyes--also saw things that needed fixed, that needed more help than she could give.  Her part was to evaluate.  It’s up to the surgeon to remove the cancer.  Kind of like what God does to us, right?  We see in part; He sees in whole.  We examine ourselves but He is Who fixes us.  Our wounded flesh and our deeply rooted sins can only be removed by God.  While we deal with the exterior, He takes care of the interior areas of our beings that need His expert touch.

In closing, I appreciate the words Katie spoke to me that made me reflect more on how I present myself to the world.  Yes indeed, man does look on the outward appearance.  However, every once in a while, man sees something more, something truer, and something that helps him to believe there is more than meets the eye.  Katie saw me as being not just hopeful, but “the most hopeful” person she has met.  Wow.  She sees me once a year and has made this assumption.  What about those who see me more often? What am I projecting to them?  Is it positive or negative? Do I let Jesus out or keep Him buried deep inside?  Hmn hmn hmn.

Let’s pray!

My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus’ blood and righteousness.  Lord, the words to this song are meaningful in that Christ Jesus is the only avenue of hope.  Man cannot save me or fix me or assure me.  Only You can.  

As I go through my days, remind me that others only get small pieces of me, outward showings that they judge me by.  Oh Lord:  help me to reflect You and not my own negativity, my own weaknesses, nor my own sinful self.  Shine through me, Lord, so that others see You when glancing my way.  Speak through me so that they hear Your voice of love, of strength, of compassion.  Seep through me, Father, that Your presence comes through every pore of my being and draws others to You is my plea.  I ask these things in the name of Christ Jesus:  amen!

Perspective

If you were to ask my neighbours what the big deal is, why I keep staring so intently at their house, day after day, week after week, I am sure they would be dumbfounded to know that I do so because of all of the marvelous sunsets I am witnessing just beyond their vantage point.  I mean, after all, we share the same sky, right?  We are within almost shouting distance of one another.  Why, should they look up at the same sky I am enthralled with, they’d probably think I had lost what marbles I had left.  “What’s the big deal” they might ask one another.  “I don’t see anything but darkness setting in.”  They’d probably shake their heads, laugh at their crazy neighbour, and go back inside, perhaps just every so often going to their back window to check and see if maybe, just maybe ol’ Stef was on to something after all.

But they wouldn’t see it.  

However, should you ask my neighbour up on the hill, she might have a completely different reaction.  “See it?” she’d exclaim.  “Why you, Stefanie, are only getting a glimpse of what rapturous beauty I am beholding!  If so, you’d be at my house every night, waiting for the opportunity to see what God paints next!”

Perspective.  From one angle, things look this way.  From another’s point of view the facts may not be as evident.  And from still another’s one would realize, as my friend Susan once said, there’s three sides to every story:  yours, mine, and the truth.

As things are presented to you today, friends, I encourage you to check out the other sides of the “details” given and see if perhaps you should examine them from another angle before making your final conclusion.  Things are not always what they seem and sometimes we just have to move a little to gain a more vivid accounting of what has been put before us so that we can see if a fair accounting is taking place or if we are only seeing through the glass dimly.

Let’s pray!

Well, once again Father, this blog did not go where I thought it was going to!  Nonetheless, as my readers examine it, I pray that this example of perspective, of examining our motives and the motives of others will encourage us to think for ourselves instead of just accepting things at face value.  Too often we are too lazy to seek out the truth, relying instead on others’ thoughts and “knowledge” about situations to find that there just may be another point of view out there that is more trustworthy, more eye-opening, and better able to point us to You, the real Truth.

Help us, I ask, to seek You today in all that we do, say, and offer to others.  In the radiant name of Christ Jesus I pray, amen.  Oh, and Lord?  Thanks for the beautiful sunsets!  I appreciate them!

Don't I Know You From Somewhere?

How do you realize there has been change in your life?  For instance, when you were in high school folks thought a certain way about you and then--somewhere down the road or when it's class reunion time--they see you after x amount of years and they say to you "You haven't changed a bit!" or "Wow! If I hadn't read your name tag I would have never recognized you!"  Have the years changed you or are you the same person you've always been?

II Corinthians 13:5 tells us to examine our selves.  Now, the former English teacher in me thinks that "our selves" should be one word.  However, I think this means we are to examine we--me is to examine me, you is to examine you.  Got it?  A lot of good it does me to tell you what's wrong with you and disregard the things I need to change in my own self.  Remember the story of the mote and the plank found in Matthew 7:3-5?  

And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye, but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye?  Or how wilt thou say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold, a beam is in thine own eye?  Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote out of thy brother's eye.

Next, how do we prove that we are different, that we are new creatures in Christ? That one's a little tougher, isn't it? Especially to those we grew up with or those that have known us since birth. Witnessing to family members is often the hardest sale one will make. Remember even Jesus Himself had trouble with this. Why, His own family thought he had lost His mind!

And He came home, and the crowd gathered again, to such an extent that they could not even eat a meal.  When His own people heard of this, they went out to take custody of Him; for they were saying, "He has lost His senses."  Mark 3:20-21

Thirdly, how do we know we are indeed living by faith and not just convinced we are saved when there are often doubts that arise to make us unsure?  That one is a little tougher for some--especially if they have been adamantly told that if they can't remember the exact time and moment that salvation happened then they probably aren't saved to begin with.  Hmn.  Guess I'll have to combat that with some more scripture!

And this is the record, that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son. He that hath the Son hath life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life. These things have I written unto you that believe on the name of the Son of God; that ye may know that ye have eternal life, and that ye may believe on the name of the Son of God.     1 John 5:11‑13 

Friends, it doesn't have to be a mystery.  When we examine ourselves and see the evidence of Christ in our lives, when we prove that we aren't the same souls we used to be, and when we know that Jesus saved us in spite of what others may try to tell us, then we can rest assured that we are His children and not Satan's spawns.  Yes, there are going to be those who try to drag us back down and/or back to a place where they were more comfortable (perhaps) in knowing us, since it relieves them of the pressure of dealing with their own salvation issues.  After all, if our lives don't convince them that Jesus has changed us, then why would they see the need in themselves to seek Him for their own assurance?  Does that make sense?  If we are living a life that pleases God, the world is not going to embrace us.  They aren't going to want to accept us as His children because too often that makes them check up on their own selves and see what is lacking, see Who is lacking.  On the other hand, for those who have been delightfully excited to see the change Jesus made in us, then we can offer hope, renew faith, and encourage them to keep on with their own witnessing efforts so that the name of Jesus Christ is lifted up.

Let's pray!

Dear Lord, how I hope You can use my muddled thoughts and words to encourage those who may be questioning their lives today.  Too many times as young Christians, we are swayed by what others say we should be and how we should act.  Help us, I ask, to seek You, to read Your Word, and to allow You to teach us what we need to know to prove that You have saved us and we are Yours and haven't been misled in our trust.  Give us strong role models who have been examined by the trials of faith so that we may use their examples to--not to measure up to but...not to be our role models...Um, Lord?  Maybe give us folks to teach us through their lives how You have worked in them to make them the better people that are now versus who they used to be.  Grant us teachers and preachers who know You, You, The King of Glory, the Lover of our souls, and the Redeemer of man.  May we grow closer to You each moment of our lives is my earnest prayer, asked in the name of Jesus.  Amen.