It’s a struggle sometimes not to look. Not to look at what renovations the neighbors can afford to do on their house. Not to look at the trendy skinny jeans that woman in the coffee shop bought (and fits into!). Not to look at how well behaved someone else’s kids are. Not to look at how wrinkle-free that mom’s face is.
I worry sometimes that blog-writing and blog-reading are especially problematic magnets for my looking issues. People look and write so perfectly! But as polished as everyone appears in blogland, is it real?
A blog post can only be one part of a puzzle. A five minute glimpse at real life. No matter how honest, well-written, or transparent the words, a blog can never convey the complex depths of a real human being. A blog post is like catching a glimpse of an elbow. Or a pedicured big toe.
I’ve got a children’s Bible school song stuck in my head these past few days. As annoying as it is to have a sing-song soundtrack to my thoughts, I’m loving the reminder of truth: “God doesn’t look at the things people look at. /He doesn’t care what [clothes you wear/color your hair/house you own/car you drive/your family photo looks like/insert looking issue here]. / People always look at the outside, / But God looks at the heart.”
I maybe can’t stop looking (and wishing, yearning, feeling guilty, etc.), but I’m happy to let go as much as I can and turn instead to Someone who sees a complete and finished puzzle. Someone who can ignore the elbow and go straight for the heart.
This post is shared with the lovely looking, writing, and caring members of Lisa-Jo Baker’s Five Minute Fridays writing prompt.
Hi there! I’m visiting from 5MF today.
I really enjoyed your piece of writing here. And your analogy that reading someone one’s blog is like only seeing their elbow is a concept of the blogging world I hadn’t thought of before.
Try as we might, it’s hard to get the WHOLE person through the screen into the laps of the many readers that peruse blogs throughout their day. Some days I wonder what the point is of blogging anyways? And then I remember: I’m not doing this for anybody else as much as I blog to honor God with my writing and I follow his lead in doing so.
Love reading your blog, Beth!
You are so right! I love your comparision of blogs to pedicured big toes, just yesterday I was looking at other blogs and thinking, “If only I had a cool background, if only my theme was a good as hers…. if only” Thanks for the reminder that none of it really matters in the big picture. The only thing that matters is God’s identity as the One who Sees.
A beautiful post. Thank you for the reminder that He always views us through eyes of grace. Thank you, too, for the reminder that although we are slow to apply that same vision to others, we are even more guilty of not applying it to ourselves.