Take a look at this picture:
As I gazed at it I was captivated by the number of "things" going on all at once. How many do you see?
Every moment has an infinite number of things going on all at once. Some things are real, while other things are nothing other than the perceptions emerging from illusion and deceptive mental activity.
As the children of God we are blessed with the gift of God's "lens" that helps us see the world and its information for what it really is. Because of the companionship of the Holy Spirit, we are able to see what is real according to God's loving will for the world.
We are walking a path every day that has turns, dips and rises. This path runs a course throughout history and it is a path that the creator of the universe establishes according to Love's plan to gather all of creation into a WHOLE. Every day my feet are on this path. This path, God's course for my life...all life...is the only path that is REAL. I'm talking about "real" in a lasting, eternal way. It is the kind of reality that endures far beyond the limits of my own life. It is the kind of reality that weaves the moments of my particular and finite life into the fabric of eternity. Despite my blindness and deafness to what is REALLY happening in accordance with God's plan, I AM a part of its unfolding.
So are you.
There are moments that break through the surface of what is worldly that give us glimpses of what is REAL. Those moments are the ones when time seems to stand still. They can be moments of solitude when beauty bursts into our view -- beauty that may be expansive, like a sunrise, or beauty that is miniscule, like a drop of dew on a blade of grass. Reality appears also in moments of human community when we exchange a word or glance that is somehow so full of love and understanding that we know that it is not of our own making -- it is clearly a moment of grace, given by God to draw us closer to each other in God.
Recently I watched (for the umpteenth time) a "A Beautiful Mind" (2001)...the story of John Nash, (portrayed by Russell Crowe)the Nobel Prize winning mathematician who suffered from extreme schizophrenia. In a climactic scene the power of the mental illness threatens to consume John and obliterate his grip on reality. His marriage is on the edge of collapse. John's wife, Alicia (played by Jennifer Connelly)kneels before him and draws his attention to what is "real". She proclaims her hope that something "extraordinary" can happen. She looks deeply into his eyes, touches his cheek and places John's hand upon her heart -- and she reminds him "This...is real!" For just a moment the confusion and chaos of the shizophrenia is halted, and the scene is one of solid and profound PEACE.
When we notice a breaking through of God's reality, extraordinary things are revealed. They don't necessarily make sense and we can't choreograph their appearance. But these moments are given to us to remind us of the underlying flow of infinite love and purpose that can gather our broken lives together into wholeness.
Ephesians 1:5-10
He destined us for adoption as his children through Jesus Christ, according to the good pleasure of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace that he freely bestowed on us in the Beloved. In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of his grace that he lavished on us. With all wisdom and insight he has made known to us the mystery of his will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time, to gather up all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.
This is a plan that is intact and which underlies every day. Where do you see it? Who is helping you pause in the midst of life's chaos and busy-ness. Who is drawing your attention to what is REAL?
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