Views
Riding around in Northeast Georgia during the fall is a
wonderful experience. I complain about roads that have all the hills,
twists and turns and how it seems you have to drive 5 miles to go a mile as
the crow would fly. But these hills have twists
and turns that cause you to slow down- if for nothing else than safety,
and then you can look around.
What you see is gorgeous. When you are riding through a valley you
are surrounded by beautiful colors and at times the road has a nice blanket.
The road seems to need this blanket
to keep itself warm in the cold of winter. It is made of red, brown, yellow
and green and just for a moment I’ll think about going in another direction
so as not to disturb the beautiful sight. When I’m at the peak or ridge of a
hill, it’s majestic to see for miles. The tapestry woven in the canopy of
trees seems even more beautiful when you are above it all. The clouds sit
ever so close to the tops but staying just above as to make a perfect
unobstructed view and adding a beautiful accent.
I stand back
and admire the artwork of God. What God has created, artists spend lifetimes
trying to capture in pictures and paintings. Nothing can replace the majesty
of God’s creation. Northeast Georgia isn’t the only place in Georgia to
experience these beautiful views. I had lived 4 years in Northwest Georgia
in the city of Rome before moving east to the hills of Gainesville. When
driving from Atlanta to Rome you pass a certain piece of interstate 75 that
begins the entry into the foothills of Rome. It’s a majestic view that
reminds us of God’s artistic nature. I would often find myself driving with
anticipation of leaving the man made buildings and getting lost inside the
beauty of nature that was evident while traveling north. I feel blessed to
have been living in North Georgia for the last 4-5 years.
I know of no other place in Georgia
to see such beauty. After all I have
lived in and around the Atlanta area most of my life and never have seen the
beauty I’ve seen in the last five years. I find myself speaking to God and
saying “Thank you God for allowing me to be here”.
Well, several weeks ago Kristi and I were travelling
along and noticing God’s beauty on our way to our 20 year high
school reunion. The Road from
Gainesville to Marietta has some great sights and we decided to make sure we
arrived early and drove around our old hometown. We travelled in
neighborhoods where we once lived and places we used to go. There was my old
home that still had the basketball goal attached to the tree where we used
to play till my fingers would crack and bleed from playing on very cold
days. We spent some time driving around our old High school to remind
ourselves of a time some 20 years ago that still in many ways seems like
yesterday. The school’s red brick was timeless and hadn’t changed a bit. I
recalled posing for my high school football pictures in front of the Osborne
Cardinal Sign that I believe was donated by the class of 1984. The old Gym
no doubt still had that smell that is extremely pungent at 5:30AM when we
used to practice basketball before school. The old practice football field
seemed like a family friend. I have spent many, many hours there not to
mention my blood sweat and tears. The memories were flooding back to me and
I was feeling like I could remember everything with such clarity. My mind is
pretty good I began to think. I have such vivid details of this place.
Well we continued on to our destination at a conference
center when all of the sudden I saw something that I didn’t remember. How
could this be? Someone must have planted these peaks and valleys in Marietta
after I left. My memory was keen as evidenced by all the memories I had just
seen in my mind. Never once in my teenage and young adult years had I seen
this beauty before me, I stood awestruck.
I thought this
type of beauty only resided in North Georgia where I had lived the last 5
years. I said to my wife,” How could I never have noticed this beauty when
it was all around me so many years ago”. She simply said…”I know”. We had
both missed it. It turns out North Georgia doesn’t have a monopoly in
Georgia on God’s handy work.
The landscape hadn’t changed…I had. So I lived 20 or 25
years in that area not seeing God’s handiwork. What else might I have
missed? Nature is a pretty obvious thing but God’s work isn’t always in the
physical. What I thought I knew so well, maybe even pompously a few moments
earlier, I didn’t know. I was humbled which often happens when we have a
“God Moment”.
It’s easy to look back and say…I wish I would have paid
more attention to spiritual things. It’s easy to say well, I’ve matured and
now I see more than in the past. It’s even possible to regain my pompous
attitude and say…we’ll I ain’t
what I used to be so I’m pretty good now. A better approach would be…even
though I see more today than yesterday, what else could I be missing? After
all, I was a Christian during those days as well. It’s not as though I was a
complete heathen. Humility is the best place to remain open to seeing the
movement of God.
So I find myself in the position that we should all
find ourselves. Pray that God would let us see the world and people as he
sees. I don’t want to be blinded by my personal issues, opinions, agendas
and even my personal life. Let’s not be pompous and believe we have arrived
and can see clearly now since we see better than before. You can after all
be blind at any age and even partially blind. Only God can give us perfect
vision. 2 Corinthians 4:18 says “So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but
on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is
eternal. “
Let’s commit to ask God to let us see others as he sees
them. Let’s commit to ask God to let us see material things as he sees them.
Let’s commit to ask God to see ourselves as he sees us. Let’s commit to
seeing God wherever we find ourselves. Let’s commit to ask God to make the
most of every moment of life. We don’t want to look back 20 years later and
say…I didn’t see that then but I do know. Make the most of today with God’s
eyes. I believe as II
Corinthians 3:18 says “And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the
Lord's glory, are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing
glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Surely that includes
our sight.
