Looking vs Seeing

As I am venturing into the realm of what it takes to be a good photographer, I have come across several articles that speak to looking vs seeing.  It has been stated in several of them that their is actually a big difference.  When you look at something the mind actually takes what information it is given from the eyes and processes it to what you believe you see. However, as we get older more and more of what we "see" is a mixture of what is actually there.  For instance....how many times have you looked for your keys and couldn't find them.  You search all over the house, high and low, looking everywhere you think they could be, just find find out that they are laying on the table.  The mind likes to somewhat play tricks on us.  It saw the table and just put pieces together to form an image of the table in our mind that didn't include the keys even though they were laying on the table.  It did it from its memory.  The less data it has to process the faster and more efficiently it runs, only sometimes that can really make things challenging.

Seeing on the other hand is quite different.  It is taking the time to actually make your mind process all the information it can.  Example:  Find somewhere in your house to sit and just sit there for 5 minutes looking at anything and everything you possibly can.  Look for details you may have missed before.  After those 5 minutes you will see that place in a whole new light.

Photographers often do exercises like this to learn to SEE rather than Look.  Its hard.  It takes time and patience.  On the other hand, you get to enjoy things you may not have seen before.  Things will appear different to you.  In the case of a photographer, he might get a photograph that he would never have thought of taking before.

So what does that have to do with people that aren't looking to take better photos?  Well, its rather simple.  I believe often times we do the same thing with our relationship with God and how we interact with His word.   How many times have you skimmed a story because you have heard it a thousand times. 

Example:  Did you know Jonah, even after being spit out of a large fish, still wanted God to destroy Ninevah?  Did you know a man fell asleep while Paul was preaching and fell out of a third story window?  Did you know that Adam named all the animals before Eve was even created...meaning he was the only human on earth for quite some time?

You see, most of us have been so blinded by "religion" we miss seeing a lot of what is out there, and frankly many pastors preach on the same set of scripture and yet miss some key points that are just on either side of the passage they are preaching from.

In reality, today's blog is just a reminder of why I am blogging in the first place.  I want to see things differently.  I want to take the time and see things the way God sees them.  I don't want to miss all that He has to offer just because I was too busy looking at things the way I always have.

I had a teacher one time who spent every Saturday in a Jewish synagogue because he wanted to see the Bible the same way the writers saw the Bible.  He wanted to understand more than just the Hebrew language...the Greek language.  He wanted to understand the context, the reality of the scripture, and the true meaning behind each verse.  That's a challenge.  Most of us only want to read it through our Christian American glasses.

Why did Jesus cry out, "My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?" in Matthew 27:45-46? Did you know that he was actually quoting Psalm 22? Did you know that in their culture many of them had so much scripture memorized that they would quote bits and pieces, but were actually implying the whole passage? Looking at that passage without understanding that would make you think that He actually though God had forsaken him, so that line would seem so far out of place with the relationship God and Jesus had.

Take some time today and really try to see. Stop looking...Start Seeing Change in View