I was recently looking at an old book called "Magic Eye." I think that was the title anyway, and if I am correct in that statement, I should make it known that that name is copyrighted and trademarked. And well it should be, because they are wonderful pictures that challenge our vision and imagination while at the same time encouraging our creativity. I love to stare at those pictures, moving my eyes back and forth, squinting and opening them wide while waiting for something unseen to jump to life. And if I am persistent in my search, it always happens.
It is amazing really, how I can look at a two-dimensional illustration and see only an odd arrangement of colors and shapes; but when I look longer and harder while altering my point-of view, the reference soon begins to change. What happens next is usually a slow but certain process in which an image begins to appear and then grow. Once I detect that image, my eyes become more focused on the object, and soon what was unseen begins to make its presence clear. And once it is clear, it somehow grows and expands. It comes to life in three-dimensional clarity. In fact, it stands alone and begins to obscure the randomness of the colors and shape so that randomness no longer seems to exist at all.
And when the image takes this form, it becomes the picture that I am looking at; and I wonder why I didn't see it in the first place.
"Magic Eye" pictures actually give you instructions on how to find the hidden objects. And friends that are standing by add their own thoughts on what you can do in order to get "inside" of the picture. The reality, however, is that the only way you can discover the wonderful reality which is lurking behind the randomness is to take the time to look for it. And you must look for it with diligence and persistence. And when you do, that is when you see something that seems like it was not there in the first place.
Even more incredible is the fact that once you discover the image, it doesn't go away. It remains in your sight every time you look at the page, somehow exhibiting and expanding on the life which you at first did not recognize.
I have discovered that this is a how God looks in the pictures of our existence.
While I have spent most of the years of my life looking at a world that seems entirely random, with shapes and colors and people and situations just sitting in places where they seem to have no purpose, I have come to realize that when I look harder and longer at all of the randomness of existence, a living picture begins to appear within them that I had not noticed before. And the longer I look, the greater the clarity of the picture becomes. Suddenly I see a new dimension that I did not know existed. And it comes to life, growing in strength while making the randomness dissolve before my very eyes. Each shape, each color, each situation, each feeling, is brought to life in the picture of God.
But if you want to see God in the two-dimensional picture of life, you have to look at the picture longer and harder. You might have to squint sometimes, and other times you might have to open your eyes wider. But when you keep looking, anticipating the reality that there is something more to the picture, I am sure that you will find God.
And when you finally do see the picture of God in the tapestry of man, I assure you that you will begin to realize that every time you look at the world, you can find God in it. He will be living, strong, multi-dimensional, and challenging your senses. When that happens, you will never see another picture of life that does not have God at the center.
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