Last week I walked in the kitchen and said to my family, “Well, the dermatologist removed that small mole from my face.” “What mole?” they asked. “The mole on my face that used to be right here,” I pointed. “Huh?” they questioned.
It was absolutely crazy to me, as one by one, my family stepped up and looked me square in the eye, looked over my face and all said the same thing…..they didn’t realize I had a mole there.
I’m talking about a regular brown mole. On my cheek. That stuck out. Why didn’t they realize that I had it….and that now it’s gone?
[callout]And suddenly it dawned on me. We can get so used to seeing something, that we don’t even realize something is there.[/callout]
One of my favorite tv shows happens to be a show where a chef goes into a failing restaurant and takes over. He and his team redo the menu, the décor, and makeover the whole restaurant. They help the owners to get back on their feet.
The funny thing……the owners never want to let go of the old, and move onto the new. So when the chef first arrives, he starts pointing out the old carpet, the old wall coverings, and the old fixtures. Then, he tackles redoing everything. The owners….never saw the dirt, the stained carpet, the dirty menus, the old wallpaper, and the dusty light fixtures. They just got used to it.
It never fails…by the end of the show, the owners walk into a completely renovated restaurant, fall to their knees and cry. Why? Because they got so used to the old, dated, dirty interiors, that they didn’t even realize what was really there. Kind of like my family and the mole.
So what am I driving at? Here’s the thing….we adjust to our surroundings and what we see over and over, we tend to block out. We just become numb to it.
[callout]I had to ask myself today, what is it that I’m not really seeing?[/callout] Am I opening my eyes and seeing with a fresh look how things really are? Am I seeking places where God needs me to serve? Will I be willing to hear His voice and look into the eyes of people I’ve seen over and over….but didn’t realize they needed the hands and feet of Christ?
Today, I want to ask you to pray this prayer with me:
Dear Jesus, please have your Holy Spirit fall fresh on me today. I ask for fresh eyes to see what you see. I ask for an open heart to love like you love. I ask for ears to hear what you need me to hear. And Jesus, I pray that God will bless me with the ability to look and see deeply the needs of those around me, so I can be the hands and feet of Christ. In Jesus name, Amen.