May 5, 2012

In Ann Voskamp's book, One Thousand Gifts, she describes a moment when she is disciplining her child.  In the moments before the actual discipline, she is praying that God will open her eyes to see what she can be thankful for in that moment.  She looks at her son and thanks God for his scars, his curls in his hair, his eyes, etc...  As she looks at her son through these eyes of prayer in the moment, she writes, "The unfamiliar becomes the real and the real is only seen by the lovers and I count him as grace, I embrace now as love, and I know how lovers alone see the true.  Love is not blind; love is the holy vision."

I love this plant.  But to me, it is not just a plant.  To everyone else, they see what is familiar about it.  It is a plant.  However, to me, it is a form of love from God, to me.  The unfamiliar part of this plant...who gave it to me, what it means to me, the perseverance it has had in coming back to be healthy, all of these things and more have become real in my eyes.  I see them as grace...as a gift.  I love this plant.  And yet, it is just a plant.  To me, it is a gift from God.  I, the lover, see the true.

I have added a filter to this image this week, because this is how my eyes see this plant.  This isn't the familiar and reality of what it actually is to others.  But through Photoshop, I have kind of given you a glimpse of how I see it.  It is almost angelical, kind of like this holy vision Ann talks about :)


To view Ann's blog, click here: http://www.aholyexperience.com/