Daily Devotion:

Title: What You See Is What You Carry

Date: January 27, 2013

Henry David Thoreau wrote, “It's not what you look at, that matters; it's what you see.”  Normally, we see and understand based on the knowledge and ideas we carry within us. What we see depends on our knowledge and on how carefully we observe. In the autumn woods, from a distance I might be able to distinguish a fiery-colored sugar maple from a yellow-leafed white birch, because I happen know what they look like, but from the same distance I might not know a black spruce from a white spruce, or a red spruce from a balsam fir, because of their similarities which make them all look subtly the same, at least to me. There are just things in life about which I will remain ignorant. I will look at them, but not really see them because I lack understanding.

The more we know about something, the more we appreciate its subtleties and depths. This holds true for nature, car engines, software programs, or music.

The same thing happens when we read the scriptures — we only see in them what we bring to the reading. That is the why, as we age, when re-reading familiar passages, our own experience feeds our understanding. This most often happens only when we read with an open heart along with our open eyes. Cultivate a willingness to see anew.

Let’s Pray: Dear God, give us eyes to see what is right in front of us, a heart to love, and a mind to understand. Inspire us. Amen.

Here’s a Thought: Seek the deeper wisdom.

Source: 

Henry David Thoreau Quotes, http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/h/henrydavid106041.html