dailydatewithgod

So much of our brainpower is used to make use of the visual images we encounter.  There are the ones we are consciously taking in and others we do not even know we are seeing. Our brain automatically codes and categorizes those images for us.  Our nervous system takes that information and feeds it to the body so we know how and when to act based on the interpretation of the images.  The brain does this will all our senses but we tend to believe what we see as being the primary cause because it is a dominant experience of being human.  It is probably why the idea of being visually impaired or blind is frightening or baffling to us.  It is a beautiful gift to be able to see things, I am most grateful to have full use of this sense. The downside is how we get caught up in believing that the display is the whole picture.  In our system, our visual acuity works in conjunction with all our other senses to provide a full experience.  When we lean on the display as our only source of information we lose out.  It is how our perception of people can change when we go from seeing them in a picture to interacting with them in person.  It is not that their physical display is any different but when we add being able to hear them and touch them it is a different story.  The display can seem untouchable and infallible but when it comes out from behind the beautiful glass we have some real substance.  It is so easy to default into thinking that the display is the most important.  Life gives us ample chances to see past the display but often we are so busy being confused or disappointed because it does not match up with the parts we filled in from our imagination based on the display. God invites us to notice that we are perhaps less disappointed by how people are outside of the display not because of who they are but because of who we imagined them to be based on the display.  Equally, we may be working hard to meet other’s expectations of who we are supposed to be based on our own display. When we take a breath and open ourselves to the moment where we are present with the other person we can let go of what the display was in our heads and embrace the truth of who the other person is.