A Wandering Thought
WHEN you look into someone’s eyes, what do you see? Have you grown complacent or ungrateful of their presence and scoff in your heart? Can you see the fizzle that burns and sets their life ablaze? Do you notice the endless maze of their Iris? Have you ever seen their eyes contrast when the sun is at different heights? Most people only have the patience to see the color of one’s pupil. Or worse some make a judgement about one’s beauty or lack-thereof. (The Creator of life has not created anything nor defined the word ugly, that word and idea is a hubristic, human invention.) When one is engaged, with all their senses and will and love into the human experience, only then can one value the life in another individual. It is after this realization that one can see the soul of another human. We often overlook what a person is because who a person is covers up or veils their what. But, if you learn to gaze rather than look, invest your time, rather than give it, listen with understanding and patience, then the what of a person shyly comes out.
Until you ask and think deeply upon a few questions, your gaze will only reveal physical traits that even the unthinking, instinctual animals can attest to. We must consider what fuels our personalities. Our memories aren’t physical, so what stores them, what aids us in recalling them? What about that ever present silent, yet, always speaking voice in our heads? The thread that ties all these incorporeal aspects of our existence together is God’s breath. This is what it means to live, at its rudimentary meaning. Does not the opposite happen at the death? God takes His breath away and bodies become nothing more than food for the worms and decomposition for the Earth. We become the ashes that go to the ashes. We must learn how to appreciate each individual soul that we encounter and then the door to serve the flesh will always remain ajar. This purview is one that must be grown and cultivated in a drought. It is possible, but first, we must plant the seed.
“All creatures look to You to give them their food at the proper time. When You give it to them, they gather it up; when You open Your hand, they are satisfied with good things. When You hide Your face, they are terrified; when You take away their breath, they die and return to the dust. When You send Your Spirit, they are created, and You renew the face of the ground. May the glory of the Lord endure forever; may the Lord rejoice in His works—He who looks at the earth, and it trembles, who touches the mountains, and they smoke.”
