Can You See It?
“Dad,
Dad! Look at this!” said my oldest son, Andrew, as he walked into the living
room with an open book in his hand. “This is so cool!” he said, pointing to a
multi-colored graphic of…nothing. To me, it was a bunch of colored shapes. Nice
colors, mind you, but I didn’t get his excitement. Ordinarily, this middle-schooler
was impressed with nothing short of shaking hands with a professional baseball
player or landing on the moon. I felt his forehead for the fever that would
explain enthusiasm for a book of colored shapes.
“There’s
nothing there,” I said confidently. He smiled. I know that smile. So do you.
It’s the one that communicates with a simple facial expression that he knows
something that his dad doesn’t, therefore he is highly intelligent and his dad
is a cave man (with all due respect to cave men).
“Yes,
there is, Dad. The picture is hidden.”
I looked
again. More closely. Stared and searched, grasping to regain my “dad is smart”
standing. Not. A. Thing. And the boy once again smiled that condescending
smile.
“There
is nothing there,” I said, with what I hoped was confidence. “You’re just
trying to fool me.”
“No,
really, Dad. Look at the picture. There are dinosaurs.”
“Sheila,
what is the doctor’s number? We need to take this boy there quick. He’s
hallucinating.”
“Daaaad!”
he said, using the universal pronunciation children use when frustrated and
disgusted. Especially when the man who sired them tells “dad” jokes.
“You
have to look through the picture to
see the hidden picture. It’s a ‘Magic Eye’[i]
picture.”
I made
for the car keys thinking we should go to straight to the ER and bypass the
doctor.
“Just
try it, Dad.” I tried it. Nothing. Except the mish-mash of colors as before.
The
smile turned to delighted, patronizing laughter.
“I can
see it,” a voice sounded. I glanced up to see my daughter peering over my
shoulder. “There are four dinosaurs. Two in the back, one there and a baby in
the front. Aww, isn’t he cute?!”
“You
guys are just messing with me. How long have you been concocting this? You’re
all grounded.”
“I don’t
go anywhere, Dad. How can you ground me?” said the little female at my side.
“Here,
Dad. Let me show you,” Andrew said, appearing to be helpful. I couldn’t help
but wonder what the next act in the humiliation play would be.
“Hold the
book up to your nose, keep your eyes the way they are now and slowly move the
picture away from you.”
Right.
But I
dutifully did it expecting raucous laughter at any moment as these hooligans
pulled something on me.
“OH!
Right. RIGHT!” I exclaimed in amazement, the dinosaurs coming more and more
clearly into focus.
“See!
SEE! I told you!”
“You
were right, I conceded. I saw it all along. I was just pulling your leg.”
“Daaaaaaad!”
But he
was right. I didn’t see the dinosaurs at first, though they were always there.
Not until I learned a new way of seeing could I make out the depth of what was
there, the real beauty in the picture.
A New Way of Seeing and Knowing God
The
problem was not that the dinosaurs were missing, or that the design of the
picture was wrong, or that I wasn’t trying, or even that my eyes were not
working. The problem was with the way I was looking. To see the Magic Eye
picture for what it really was necessitated a new way of seeing; the ability to
look past the superficial to see the real picture. I couldn’t do it by myself,
though. This new way of seeing required a guide who had experienced it to show
me the way. As a result and to my delight, I saw what had been there all along.
I
believe that many people are looking for God, but not seeing Him. The problem
is not that God is hiding from us, but that we need a new ways of seeing. Ever
since the Garden of Eden debacle, men and women have struggled to see God as He
really is. Sometimes hidden, sometimes distorted, sometimes defaced, the true
picture of God calls to us just beyond the superficial. As a result, we are
hindered from experiencing a true relationship with God. A relationship that
satisfies the longing in our hearts, fills the hole in our souls, makes sense
out of life, provides us purpose and gives us hope.
My hope is
that this book will lead you to a new way of seeing and thus a new way of
experiencing the relationship with God you have always longed for. That it will
guide you to see past the superficial to what is really real with God. That,
through this book, you will allow me to be your guide to a relationship with
God of intimacy and awe. Not because I have it all figured out, but because I might
be a few steps farther down the path.
‘You will seek me and find me, when you seek me
with all your heart. I will be found by you,’ declares the Lord, --
Jeremiah 29:13–14a
‘For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are
your ways my ways,’ declares the Lord. ‘As the heavens are higher than the
earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.’
-- Isaiah 55:8–9
‘Call to me and I will answer you and tell you
great and unsearchable things you do not know.’ --
Jeremiah 33:3