God eyes...

2015. Two Thousand Fifteen. Twenty Fifteen. A new year.

For many folks, the dawn of a new year brings excitement. Anticipation for things to come. Dreams for change. A fresh start.

For me, the new year brings about a time of reflection. A time for looking back on God's faithfulness. A heart of thankfulness for the blessings of life. An appreciation for the joy in the journey.

This week, God reminded me why I started this blog a few years ago. This blog titled, Look for God, with the web address of godeyesblog.blogspot.com sprang from a simple desire to look for, then find God in the every day, ordinary things of life. But God surprised me. He transformed simple and ordinary into something extraordinary. He blessed me with the gift of seeing him everywhere, in everything, in every day.

Oh, yes, my friends, there is joy in the journey.

This week, Jesus spoke to me from the writings in the Gospel of Matthew. Jesus told me I had a gift. He told me I had eyes to see him. Jesus told me I had ears to hear him. I am blessed, my friends, and so are you. Enjoy these words from Matthew 13 (MSG):

10 The disciples came up and asked, “Why do you tell stories?”

11-15 He replied, “You’ve been given insight into God’s kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn’t been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That’s why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they’re blue in the face and not get it. I don’t want Isaiah’s forecast repeated all over again:

Your ears are open but you don’t hear a thing.
    Your eyes are awake but you don’t see a thing.
The people are blockheads!
They stick their fingers in their ears
    so they won’t have to listen;
They screw their eyes shut
    so they won’t have to look,
    so they won’t have to deal with me face-to-face
    and let me heal them.

16-17 “But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.

"God-blessed eyes - eyes that see!" God eyes.



Thank you, God, for the God eyes. And thank you, dear friends, for joining me and seeing God through the lens of faith.

Grace and peace to you in the new year!

Patiently waiting...

Friday on my way in to work, I was struck by the beauty of the waning crescent moon. You know the one; it looks like a lop-sided sliver of light on the left side of the moon. And yet, if you look closer, the entire moon is visible as a gray orb. It's a rare sight this time of year since a clear sky in Michigan is seldom seen in December.

Photo from trekearth.com posted by kajenn

The moon reminded me of the spinning circle on my computer. You know the one; it's the one that irritates us as we wait for the program or page to open.

We're impatient people. We've become accustomed to having things in an instant. Contact at the push of a button or content on the click of a key. We seldom need to wait for what we want.

As we anticipate Christmas in just a few, short days, I'm working on waiting in patient expectation. I'm waiting with joy for the revelation of God's Good News. I'm rejoicing in the gift of God's love. I'm relishing the greatest present of all: God with us, in us, among us.

Isaiah 9:6 (The Message);

  For a child has been born—for us!

    the gift of a son—for us!

He’ll take over

    the running of the world.

His names will be: Amazing Counselor,

    Strong God,

Eternal Father,

    Prince of Wholeness.

Happy Birthday, Jesus!