“Soft Bark, bark, soft bark…simmering growl……simmering growl”….that is what I was hearing from Sadie and Daisy….yesterday morning. I had my back to the porch, feet up by the fire and was reading. It was just daylight outside. They had been fed, watered and let out to run around to “do their business” and were back inside lying on the floor…but kept looking outside.
I looked over my shoulder but didn’t see a thing. They became so annoying that I finally got up and took a long look outside. They were both sitting at the door….looking at the same place. I looked long and hard and did not see one thing so I sat back down and resumed reading telling them to “be quiet”. It wasn’t happening. It kept going. Their noises were twitching and an “idling growl” had become my music for the morning.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of annoyance, they went nuts and stood up. The soft barking turned into a “I’m gonna rip your face off” kind of bark. I got up and looked outside and there were 10 deer in our back yard. I let them out so that they wouldn’t wake the whole house up or tear my door up……..and the chase began. Thank God I didn’t have to run the dogs that day. God and the deer took care of that!
As I sat back down in my chair, I thought about how keen Sadie and Daisy’s eyes were. I had looked more than once to see what they were looking at and saw nothing. Nothing at all that was moving. I saw dead grass, dead trees and a few birds in the air but the dogs weren’t looking up?????? As I thought about it, I am not sure if they saw or smelled the deer. I am pretty sure they SAW what I could not!
Funny, at the exact same time, I was sitting and reading Mark Batterson’s book, “The Grave Robbers,” for the second time. He was making the point in the book about our vision. Sometimes because of the “law of familiarity,” we become accustomed to daily provisions given to us by a Holy God and we have lost our view of His daily miracles in our lives. This is what I was reading, “One of the truest tests of spiritual maturity is SEEING the miraculous in the monotonous.” He calls it, “in-attentional blindness!” Mark continues to point out this truth, “God has wired us in such a way that we’re hypersensitive to new stimuli, but over time, the cataracts of the customary cloud our vision. [We are looking, like me that morning, but NOT seeing.] We lose our awareness of the miraculous, and with it, the awe of God. ”
I encourage you today…think about what you SEE when you look in the mirror…and possibly what you are looking at but “NOT SEEING”. I think of what David wrote in Psalms 139:13-14, “You knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made.” And the call of Jeremiah in Jeremiah 1:5, “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart…”
Today, I encourage you with this word…God sees when we don’t. HE has KEEN and sharp eyes. He even saw us before we were formed….and He has set each one of us apart to do and accomplish for Him. These things cannot be seen first, unless we choose to “Look through the eyes of our Creator”.
Trust HIM with the vision HE has for your life. Seek another set of eyes to ALERT you to what you are not seeing…even if you are looking…HOLY EYES have 20/20 VISION.