I was watching a man and woman who had been married for many years. I could tell by the ease with which they interacted that they still loved each other very much.
They were not young and beautiful anymore, but they ‘saw’ each other.
When he looked her in the eye, I could tell by the way he looked he wasn’t seeing the older misshapen figure, the wrinkles, the grey hair. It seemed to me he didn’t even see the outer physical woman. He saw her spirit, her personality, the ‘real’ woman she had become. His love for her encompassed her physically, but he paid it no mind at all as he saw the most important part.
He saw her real beauty. He saw her compassion, her grace, her sense of humour. It seemed to me in that moment of looking her in the eye, he saw everything about her, the good and the not so good. And still, he loved her.
Though we all have our small peculiarities, that isn’t the bit that matters when we look with eyes of love.
Shakespeare said in his 116th Sonnet,
Let me not to the marriage of true minds admit impediments;
Love is not love which alters when it alteration finds, or bends with the remover to remove.
O no, it is an ever-fixèd mark that looks on tempests and is never shaken;
It is the star to every wand’ring bark whose worth’s unknown, although his height be taken.
Love’s not time’s fool, though rosy lips and cheeks within his bending sickle’s compass come.
Love alters not with his brief hours and weeks, but bears it out even to the edge of doom:
If this be error and upon me proved, I never writ, nor no man ever loved.
And for me, that says it all, except for one more thing.
God doesn’t see or really care about our outward appearance. He sees us with love, the kind of love that never alters. His love is an ever-fixed mark.
God sees our heart. He created each one of us. He made us in His image, gave us a physical body that serves us while we live on earth. That’s all our bodies are for, to live on this earth, to do His will.
That’s all and we got it so, so wrong.
The world looks on the outside and cares little for the real inner person. We might be in the world but we are not to live as the world lives.
So, it’s a choice, do we spend time caring what others think of our hair, the clothing we wear, if we wear make-up, how skinny we are or are not; if we conform to the world’s standards?
Or do we look people in the eye and accept them as someone whom Jesus died for? Do we care what they are wearing, if they are homeless or if they are well-to-do? Or do we see the real person, the one who loves, laughs, weeps and mourns? The scared, and hopeless?
If it makes no difference to the One who loves perfectly, why then do we care?
Not sure about anyone who’s reading this but for me I’d like to ban mirrors everywhere!! I want to care more about the person on the inside and not give a fig for what they look like on the outside. That’s the way of the world, I want to live God’s way.
God’s way is to see with eyes of love, compassion and mercy. Jesus is the only One who can judge righteously so let us leave that to Him and focus on the loving bit.
Following are a few Scripture verses that likely say it way better than I can.
1 Samuel 16:7 is where Samuel is going to anoint the next king of Israel. He is directed by the LORD to go to the house of Jesse with this one caveat, “the LORD said to Samuel, Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God does not see as man sees, since man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.”
Luke 16:15; So He said to them, You are the ones who justify yourselves before men, but God knows your hearts. For what is prized among men is detestable before God.
John 7:24; Stop judging by outward appearances and start judging justly.
Love that sees beyond the outer appearance to the person that desperately wants to be seen, that’s the kind of love I want to grow into. How about you?
Blessings to you on your own Journey of learning to ‘see’ and love as God does.
Baruch Adonai,
Brenda
Ordinary Me; Extraordinary God 