Through His Eyes

God gives us light to see through his eyes.

Yesterday while sitting on our patio next to the golf course I saw two little girls about the age of Abby walking down the cart path.  They came up to two sandhill cranes and the girls started jumping up in the air all the while waving their arms, and what I saw next surprised me as well as brought great joy to my heart.  The cranes started to do the same, jumping up and down.  Each of the cranes in unison jumped high in the air and started to wave their wings mimicking the little girls.  Both humans and cranes did this for several moments.  The girls then rested for several minutes looking at the cranes and the cranes in turn would watch the little girls.  Then the little girls would jump in the air again waving their arms and the cranes would again follow suit.  The whole scenario was quite funny and yet very sweet.  A simple act of these children was reciprocated in turn by our feathered friends. 

"My friend is back!"

On the other side of childhood, I watched a frustrated mother hit her little 2 year old several times while at Target a couple of days ago.  The mother had three little children in her shopping cart all the while trying to shop at the same time.  I could see that she was tired and frustrated.  My first reaction was to shake my head in anger as I watched the scenario take place.  Then as I walked by the frustrated mother, a thought entered my head that criticizing her was not right, I needed to pray for this young lady instead.  Immediately I felt ashamed for my judgment of her.  It was not my place to judge her, I was not walking in her shows and I could not understand what she was going through.  I then stopped and prayed for this woman and her children during those moments just after walking by her cart. 

Disney Castle at night.

During these times when I find myself being judgmental, I ask God to give me his eyes and heart, to see this person as he does, and to feel what he feels for that individual.  Many times I fall short of this and find myself wallowing in my anger, frustration and self-righteousness, and that is usually when I find Jesus gently tugging on my conscious, wanting to get my attention.  Our Lord desires for us to have his thoughts within our hearts and minds during these moments of confusion.  (1 Corinthians 2:16)  He wants for us to see this person or situation through “his” eyes so that we can understand those in distress, as he does.  By having the mind of Christ we then can be open to what our Lord would have us do in these circumstances, whether by an act of a helping hand, or as simple as saying a prayer for those in need of our Lord’s help.