The Painting

I once heard a story during a sermon [on the very rare occasions I listen to them :)].

There was this guy staring at a painting, but he was quite close to it. As a friend came to ask him what he was doing, the guy responded that he was trying to see the beauty in the painting but the more he looked, the more confused he got and seemed to not see what others saw. The friend said, take a few steps back. Problem solved.

Sometimes we cannot see the beauty in life. We can’t, because we are too close. Or we are zooming into the things with microscopic accuracy. Yes, we see the tiny faults, but that is not what we should be focusing on at the time. One can never see the full picture by being too close to it.

When we zoom in we see the faults

When we step back and see the whole picture, we see the beauty

And we do that in life too, normally with the people close to us. We see the faults, because we so “zoomed in” all the time. When we zoomed in we normally have to work harder to see the beauty in the everyday things. We scurry around and try to get over our irritations.
Maybe its time to step back to see the full picture. Get to know the people around us better and in different environments to which we currently know them.

Also as we start this year, may we look at the bigger picture and not be so “zoomed in”. Take the time to step back and look at the bigger picture.

the Honest One

The Sea Shell

One day this sea shell arrived on shore fresh from its journeys from who knows where. It was a real eye catching picture and everyone that walked by stopped to take a look and admire it.

Sometimes water would catch it again and it would glisten in the combination of sunlight and water and angle that one looked at it. Its beauty was undeniable and for all to see.

On rare occasions the odd person would pull it to their ear and listen to its music….

Pure bliss, life simply could not get better than this.

Soon the ocean receded for a longer period than normal. The sun beat down on the sea shell with unrelenting rays.

Cracks started appearing. People started walking pass the shell without even a second glance. The shell was still what it was, the beauty a bit faded, but still present…..

When the ocean returned it was rather violent….

The ocean had its way with the shell and burrowed deep into its crevices and churned through what it could…

The shell is but a shadow of what it was, yet somehow if one would stare closely and really search you would see some remnant of its former beauty. Its got a character now, some real life exposure and some stories to tell…..

I am that shell……..

theHonestOne