Rose Tinted Glasses

The other morning I was out on my morning walk just at sunrise. It was a beautiful clear, cold morning without a cloud in the sky. As I walked along the road, my breath fogged up my glasses so that they became opaque. I turned to head for home just as the sun was breaking the horizon, and my view turned distinctly rosy as the frosty lenses of my specs diffused the red ball of light. It was beautiful, even though I couldn't really see a thing! I took off my specs and carefully cleaned them off. Only after that was I able to stand and watch the sunrise clearly, noticing the details that were missing when I was enjoying the show through opaque glass.

There are so many times in my life when I cannot see clearly, and it isn't always because I am looking through rose tinted, opaque, spectacles. For example I know without a shadow of a doubt that God is who He has told us He is. But I find myself seeing and understanding God and what He is doing in my life sometimes as I initially saw that beautiful sunrise. It was clearly happening, it was obviously wonderful, but the definition was not there and the details could not be totally analyzed. I am okay with this personally, but the frustration could be there when I try to explain to others how almighty God is involved personally in my life.

It does make me feel a bit better that the apostle Paul himself shared some similar thoughts with his friends in Corinth many years ago: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.” And as I look at these thoughts more closely I am intrigued that these words come at the end of a passage on the importance of love – which itself comes after a very important discussion on the role of the Spirit in our lives. Could it be that Paul was suggesting that we might not be able to see and understand God yet in the precise kind of detail that we would often want to, but that whatever else we know, we know that God is love; love is preeminent; love is not optional; and we have the Spirit in us to allow us to love the way God wants us to? I know that there are many other very important thoughts that we need to learn from this passage, but for me today I want to be at peace with these thoughts and accept the fact that I will not always be able to see – and to explain – all the details surrounding the glory of God's presence in my life.

Someday I'll be able to see clearly. Until then I will have to be satisfied that I can only explain God to others with my limited abilities... and through His love being lived out in my life.