Life is not always as it seems.....

Punxsutawney Phil told us at the first of the week that spring is just around the corner! My daffodils around the mailbox, ready to bloom, would certainly bear witness to that..

Hubby, my resident meteorologist, cut them and brought them into the house a few days later.

He knew things are not always as they seem and "storms" were on the way.

A day later, a severe thunderstorm came barreling through battering down many pre-blooming flowers on our street. 

Mine, however, were in a small vase in the kitchen put there by Hubby himself.

He has an awareness about many things which slip right past me. One being weather.

Life is often that way and we are caught off guard. 

Why? Because our perceptions are limited. Our vision is obstructed when we think that all we can see, is all that there is. We think that way because we don't know the whole story. 

Christians are blessed to know the whole story. Even in the midst of the diagnosis we hate to hear, or the hurtful words that have been thrown our way, we can still have hope---hope for the very thing we cannot see. That's what our faith is. Never does it feel more real than when life doesn't make sense.

God did it for Joseph as well as the thief on the cross beside Jesus. All the "not" seen goodness of those situations were made known. (Matthew 10:26)

"We only "see in part." (I Corinthians 13:12, NLT)

God promises enlightenment, total and true throughout eternity. We will see Him.

"Things are not always the way they seem" is truly an understatement for believers. Aren't we glad!

Seeing Clearly

2/21/13 A recent optometrist visit had me relating my maladies of dry eye and difficulty driving at night. Tests showed cataracts but not enough growth to warrant surgery---yet. A different prescription was given for my bifocals and so some improvement has been noted. The cloudiness still makes me insecure when driving long distances at night, especially in unfamiliar territory. I want to see clearly---without the fog.

In my BSF small group, one of the gals, often talks of how she just needs to see what God's plan is for her. Kathy, like the rest of us, knows that scripture is truly the lens to seeing the Lord. But sometimes she would like God to make His way BIG & BOLD so that she clearly sees it.  

I understand her frustration. Similar to the wait for cataract surgery, to correct physical eyesight, maybe one also has to wait for a later time for the Lord to correct our spiritual cloudiness in certain areas so that we can clearly see. 

Maybe we won't clearly see until eternity. With Him we will see fully.

Yet, in the waiting room of life, one can continue to gain spiritual "insight" from:

• God's voice through His word,
•  Nudges from the Holy Spirit, 
• God winks in circumstances, or 
• Counsel from godly folks who understand. 

Trusting Him as we wait and loving and serving others will help us keep our focus.

For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. (I Corinthians 13:12)