Yesterday my Bible study group got sidetracked. This is not an unusual circumstance. They are a great group of gals but I do lose control once in a while.
Someone mentioned a piece of modern art work and before I knew it the whole group was in a discussion about the value of something that not everyone understands, least of all me. However before I realized it, I too got into the discussion and asked them to help me with a project I had been working on for years.
It took me a minute to slip down to the basement and bring up a black and white painting about 12 inches by 14 inches. There was no rhyme or reason to it.
“This has been in the family for years and it may be at least 50 years old” I explained. “The uncle that had it is long gone, but gave it to me about 30 years ago. I wish he was around so he could explain it to me.”
They looked and looked and only one of them made a comment. We teased her about it as she has only one eye working well.
Seems like there was no quick solution to the problem so I set the painting aside and we delved into one of Max Lucado’s interesting studies.
That evening I placed the painting on a chair to my right and relaxed in front of the TV. I love my group but by late afternoon I am a bit tired and appreciate my solitude. A program later I glanced over to the painting and there clear as a bell I could make out the face of Christ!
Wow! I’d been looking at that painting straight on for years and all I had to do was come at it from a slightly different angle to see what was so obviously there.
How many times through the years I have misunderstood situations and people simply because I didn’t step back and see it from a different angle. Perhaps the face of Christ was there and I had missed it entirely.
I know my own girls insist that my relationship with my grandchildren is much more mellow than it was with them and no doubt I will be a softer great-grandma. Perhaps it is because I have stepped back from the load of responsibility I felt with them, and have spent more time, seeing in them the face of Christ…the trust, the love, the joy that is so present in little children is such a reflection of God’s love.
I intend to look more carefully at people and situations in the future. I wouldn’t want to miss Christ’s presence there before my very eyes.
