What do you see?

The age of information technology has many advantages for us – increased knowledge, global neighbours, instant communication, virtual connectivity, enlarged social justice awareness, and video imaging (wonderful when families are continents apart) are all very beneficial. It’s amazing (even mind boggling) how IT has advanced and evolved to where we literally can no longer do without it for so much.  We now live with the Gen-Z people group (ages 4-24) who will never know a world without technology.  In the midst of all that is so great about IT, adversely, there is at least one potentially unfavourable effect - what it does to our posture. Our heads are down and our shoulders slumped (something I don’t need as mine tend to be rounded anyway) as we spend so many hours a day with a downward bodily stance.  This physical position probably translates into more than just poor posture too. It can decrease good social skills and even increase the risk of injury or worse if, for example, we are texting or video calling while driving.  

This past weekend while we were travelling I was thinking about this. I don’t drive in Kenya (a little too nervous of the traffic here). So when we go long distances, I tend to be on my mobile devices – cell phone, iPad, or computer – especially when we are going to places we have often been and I’ve seen lots of the scenery already.  I consider it a good use of time to use my modern-day tools for research, messaging family and friends, or writing.  Occasionally (like yesterday) it dawns on me that while I am consumed with my devices, I’m at risk of missing beauty, inspiration, and learning from what is happening naturally all around me AND I shouldn’t assume that I have seen it all.

On Sunday morning we had a bit of a long drive to our place of worship. It was a very interior church in Busia county, close to the Uganda border. Instead of putting my head down and slumping my shoulders with my cell phone or iPad, I chose to leave my technology tools (aka modern-day ‘toys’) and let myself be captivated by the rich sights and sounds that fill the rural roadways and villages in this country. Here’s what I saw lots of:   smiles / resilience / improvising / community networking / resourcefulness / families working together / people walking, laughing, chatting, connecting / women washing laundry on the rocks and drying it on the grass / families cooking outside / cows, goats, chickens and more cows, goats, chickens / children skipping / mud hut homes / fruitful trees / groups gathering for worship in half constructed buildings / farming – hard labor – digging, tilling, weeding, seeding, harvesting / empty school grounds waiting for the return of weekday activity / shops buzzing / children and women fetching water / tree shade / women carrying bunches of bananas on their head / tons of vegetable stands with fresh bright red tomatoes, green cabbages, yellow corn, and red onions / so many people outside – hundreds / bicycles and motorbikes transporting goods / men chopping firewood / and friendly little ones waving their hands at the sight of the muzungu!

What did I see? I saw signs of a world that isn’t perfect but laced with many hints of what God intended. I saw glimpses of God’s Kingdom on earth as it is in heaven. It isn’t faultless or impeccable – someday it will be – but it is beautiful.  And I am convinced that I would serve myself best if I keep more alert to the everyday glimpses of love, hope, joy and peace that could potentially pass me by if I stop looking. I don’t want to miss what God so lovingly and painstakingly created or ignore the signs of his love and grace in the people, places, and provisions immediately before me.

I know there is much more going on ‘right in front of me’ than what I see on a drive by on a Sunday morning. I need to not only see but stop and understand the ever revolving and emerging world which maintains tremendous beauty AND amplifies incredible diversity and change. The vision of what God wants me (us) to see will likely happen best if we keep focused on what is around us - the big and the small - as well as on the Creator who made it all possible. 

I was reminded this morning when reading Ted Loder’s book “Guerillas of Grace – Prayers for the Battle” how Jesus saw signs of his Father’s Kingdom in the tiniest things and most unlikely people – in salt and yeast, pearls and seeds, travelers and tax collectors, sowers and harlots, foreigners and fishermen. Jesus had the vision I long for.  I need to keep my head up and my shoulders un-slumped (is that even a word?) more often so that I don’t miss the beauty, wonder, goodness and incredible possibilities in normal everyday life no matter where I live.  For perhaps it is in seeing this I might experience another part of Ted Loder’s prayer: “the grace of what is possible for me to be, to do, to give, to receive, that I may miss neither my neighbour’s gift nor my enemy’s need.”

I am very thankful for modern-day technology AND I hope it never replaces my God-given sight.

What do you see?