I was taking a virtual walk (rather my eyes were strolling through Facebook) when I came across a picture. The kind that is worth a thousand words. It was a cat holding a mouse in its mouth: or so I thought. I wondered what idle mortal bothered to post such a photo. I scrolled on and as the picture disappeared from my screen, I saw her. The face of a beautiful young woman! Hidden between the cat and its meal was a woman and I had totally missed it! I looked at the photo keenly and my heart was ashamed: ashamed at how quick I had judged, and at how little attention I had paid to the details.
It got me thinking. How many times in life do we go by, strolling through the pages of our life as if they were just another picture? Seeing the big things and missing out the beauty of the very essence of living just because we were in a hurry or were too casual? How many times have we judged another person? Our basis for this moral assault: the way they talk, or look, or the circumstances around their life at the moment we encounter them. Do we even know them? Do we know what they believe in, their fears, their joys, passions and hope? Because only then would we know who they are. Even after knowing them, are we any better than them to judge them?
How often we are defined by our past, our mistakes, our shortcomings. By what we tried and failed at, forgetting that at least we tried. How often we take on these labels and even wear them, losing our very essence; our verbiage now becoming what was hurled at us and not our true self. Yet the truth is deep within us is who we are. We just need to shed off these labels and manifest. Cease to be human sayings and become human be-ings (read beings). Note that being is both a noun and a verb. Our manifestation and expression is a process, not a one-time act. Every day we intentionally be:
Has a child ever come up to you holding a paper, and on it a picture of something that resembles a cat? How many times do we pause to actually look? To appreciate the beauty of that moment? The beauty of a young hand that can actually hold a pencil and imagine a cat? Then the love of a little heart that took time to draw and consider us important enough to be a part of their victory? The potential that could be a budding artist, the next Leonardo da Vinci of our time? Or do we say “well done” and quickly go back to our “important things”, those we consider better than a half-baked cat: this semblance of art that assaults our eyes?
How many times do we dismiss someone as incapable, evil, bad or inadequate because we never stopped enough to get to know them and behold the beauty in their hearts and the genuineness in their smile? How many times do we miss the pearl because all we see is an oyster shell? Forgetting that the birth of the pearl was nacre that the oyster emitted to cover up some irritant. Do we see opportunities in adversity? Is our glass half full or half empty?
No wonder God says He looks at the heart: where it really matters, where the very being of a person exists. As we encounter life, I hope we will pause to not just look but to see. To behold the beauty around us. To marvel at the sunset amidst the unending traffic jam. Bask in the moonlight and behold the starry magical night sky when there is a black out. To pick the twinkle in the eyes that emanates from a passion and a love embedded deep within a heart. To see the potential for greatness in the rough sketch of a budding artist. To be truly present.
It is ok if we still cannot see the face of the young woman in the picture. At least we paused long enough, tried to see, and actually looked for it. Someday we might see it, someday. Keep looking, keep hoping, keep believing.
