Tuesday, October 01, 2013

31 Days of Seeing Jesus


[Scroll down to read Day 1]

Day 2: Acknowledging Blindness and ASKING for Sight 
Day 3: Who Can Deliver You: Jesus Seen in Daniel 3
Day 4: Keep Asking
Day 5: Giving All You Have: Jesus and the Widow's Offering
Day 6: Look Up 
Day 7: Back Up the Sunbeam
Day 8: Jesus Cancels Mommy Guilt 
Day 9: Rebellion, Curses, Disobedient Sons: Jesus Fulfills the Law
Day 10: Chattanooga Vacation, and My Longing for More
Day 11: The Power of the Inheritance
Day 12: A Lesson in Art Appreciation
Day 13: Open the Eyes of My Heart
Day 14: Prayer Paves the Way for Seeing
Day 15: [none]
Day 16: Failing, Freaking Out, and Learning to Be Served
Day 17: Treasures :: A Broken Piece of Cornerstone
Day 18: Inheritance, Injustice, and a Greater Story
Day 19: The Righteous King's House Endures
Day 20: Where Justice and Mercy Meet
Day 21: Multitude Monday, Take 302
Day 22: [none]
Day 23: Failure and Perspective
Day 24: On Potty Training and Eternal Realities
Day 25: Treasures :: A Sharp Pebble
Day 26: [none]
Day 27: Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Day 28: Multitude Monday, Take 303
Day 29: Keeping Promises
Day 30: [none]
Day 31: Noticing the Good


There's this exhilarating moment when threads converge. You hear something one place, and then have a conversation with someone else, and then it's in the book you're reading. You get a random blog comment, you get lost on rabbit trails exploring a new blog, and then boom! you're signing up for 31 Days.

Just about the only way I ever realize that God is speaking to me is when I hear the same message over and over from unrelated sources. That's been happening lately with the idea of seeing Jesus. Our pastor has been hitting it hard on Sunday mornings, and I've had this awareness that if I could learn to fix my eyes on Jesus--really *see* Him--I would be different. Everything would be different.

You see (ooh, pun intended), it's not that I don't know who He is and what He has done. It's not that I don't know what I should or shouldn't be doing. It's that in the moment, my eyes are everywhere else: fixed on the mundane task in front of me...fixed on myself and the desires of my flesh...fixed on my sin, my struggles...fixed on my duties, my plan for trying harder and doing better.

What does it really mean to fix my eyes on Jesus? How do I do that? What does it look like?

I don't really know yet, but I do know that one way I see is by writing--John Piper's little rhyme rings so true in my heart:
I know not how the light is shed,
Nor understand this lens.
I only know that there are eyes
In pencils and in pens.
Which brings me to the other theme that's been coming up repeatedly: I'm realizing more and more that I *need* to be writing--even if I am not amazing, even if Christian stay-at-home moms who blog are a dime a dozen, even if I never publish a book or grow an impressive platform. If I am not writing, I am generally not seeing, not preaching to myself, not mapmaking. If I am not writing, I am not thriving.

I was reminded of this just yesterday as I read Elizabeth Maxon's 31 Days post from last October. Her words about overcoming fear and writing resonated with me, and I remembered, "oh yeah, I've seen other bloggers do this 31 Days challenge in the past." Instantly I knew what my topic would be: 

Seeing Jesus. 

All the threads converge: write, every day, about seeing Jesus. Making myself slow down and look carefully and SEE, so that I have something to write about. Making myself write, so that I can see. 

Since I just decided yesterday to do this, I have no idea where it will really go. I'm anticipating maybe three types of posts. First, I'll open the Word and look for Jesus where you don't expect to find Him, in the Old Testament. All of Scripture points to Him, if only we have eyes to see Him. Second, I'll be looking for Him in the ordinary moments of my life. This will be the hardest part, but the part I most need to grow in. And third, I may share some stories from other people's lives (especially my husband). Steve is great at helping me see our Savior, so if I get stuck I'll probably borrow his brilliant observations :) 

This is going to be intense. I may not actually finish. Trying to discern what I can or should dive into is tricky, and I have a lot of other things going on this month. But I want to learn to see better; I want to train my eyes to focus on the beauty and glory of Jesus. So...here we go!

2 comments:

Jenn said...

look forward to joining you on your journey. I love the idea of 31 days of seeing Jesus.. what a great place to look!

Danielle said...

I'm with you in this: "If I am not writing, I am generally not seeing, not preaching to myself, not mapmaking. If I am not writing, I am not thriving."

Excited for this project. I would love to join too, I discovered only yesterday, although this is not the year for it. I have 4 photo sessions this month so that's going to take it all out of me. But I'm looking forward to reading your 31 day posts!