Dear Friends
A couple of
weeks ago, I was wandering through the Carmel Valley Art Association gallery in
the village. Among the many works of art, I saw this painting of a lighthouse
on a beautiful, rugged coastline. With all my attention on the natural beauty
of the scene, I was surprised to see that it was titled “Girl in a Red Coat”. I
had not noticed her before. Only when I looked again, more carefully, did I see
the little girl (and two other people). You can see them (barely) if you look carefully
where I am pointing.
It made me
think that sometimes, we can be so entranced by the beauty of the natural world---in
this case the rocks and water and waves, the sky and clouds, the sand and
shrubs, light and shadows and colors of many hues and shades---that we can miss
the glories of God’s creation in the form of human beings. How often have I
been with family and friends in nature and ignored their beauty, right
beside me, for the beauty I was focusing on with or without my field glasses!
Living in
New York City for three years, I noticed how often people avoided eye contact
on streets and subways. It happens in other places too, of course. But when we do
take time to look into the eyes of another person, we are reminded of God’s
glorious creation in the form of another human being.
Maybe when
we read this verse from psalm 46---“Come now and look upon the works of the
Lord, what awesome things he has done on earth”---we should remember that includes not only
the greatest “natural wonders”, but you and me and those we love, and the stranger on the street.
John
