Look Who’s Looking!
Thursday, April 21st, 2016
Amazing! My wife, Crystal, has the most beautiful eyes. They’re baby blue with a hint of sky blue. When I first met her back in May of 1991 at a tent revival, her eyes was what first captivated me. As we dated for five and half years, there usually wasn’t a day that someone, (what I mean by someone is some other guy), complimented her on her eyes. They are captivating! I remember one day I was showing out, which I never do, singing George Strait’s song, ‘Baby Blue’, while her mom was sitting close by. In my mind I saw myself as a Romeo or some type of knight-in-shining-armor, when suddenly I heard her mom say, “…WAS the color of her eyes…” We all laughed, but inside it made me wonder: “…what if I don’t get to gaze into those ‘baby blue’ eyes anymore?” So, I quit singing the song…around her mom. Looking into my wife’s eyes is one of those everyday blessings I enjoy.
Have you ever done something unorthodox and looked to see if anyone saw you? I was fourteen years old and one summer our neighbor across the street was working on our car for us. He was a shade tree mechanic and had the tools and knowledge to repair just about any vehicle. One day I was looking out the upstairs window and saw him crossing the street over to our house when all of the sudden he tripped over his own two feet. I began to laugh, not realizing he’d see me. He stood up, looked behind him to see if anyone was watching, and then looked up into my direction. Busted! There has been a few times I have done the same thing. What is it that makes us wonder if someone is watching? Is it embarrassment? As a child, growing up very poor, I don’t think there were too many times I felt embarrassed. I’m sure my mom felt differently. Like the time we were in Chickasha, Oklahoma at a Sonic Drive In, when our family pulled up to the vehicle counter and I stuck my head out of the car window, like a dog, and said, “Fooooooooood!” The lady in the car next to us gave us a snooty look and left. Or the time when the service station mechanic was checking the oil level in our car and my younger brother honked the horn and it startled the mechanic in such a way that he hit his head on the hood of the car. Or the time at the laundry mat in El Reno, Oklahoma when I pulled out a pair of my mother’s panties and yelled, “Ooooooooooh Gain Green!” just like on the commercial I saw the day before. Everyone in the laundry mat was looking at my mom. My poor mother. I don’t think that it is so much embarrassment as it is rejection. I think that is why we wonder if anyone is watching, because ultimately, we don’t like being rejected. We all have developed our own defense mechanism and put them in place to deal with embarrassing moments.
Look who’ looking. Whether we agree with this or not, someone is watching you. Our children watch us. Our spouse watches us. The government watches us. Our neighbors watch us. (Yes, the weirdo down the street is watching every move you make. Kind of creepy when you think about it.) We are being watched on social media. We are being watched at airports, at grocery stores, in parking lots, and driving our cars down the road. As much as we want to, we can’t hide from this truth, we are being watched. I guess the most important element is to realize that God is watching us. With God it is different. He not only watches us, but He also watches out for us. That’s what fathers do, right? They watch out for their loved ones. Look who’s looking. God is looking. The Bible mentions that “…the eyes of the Lord go to and fro…” It is refreshing to know that God is looking out for us. Looking back now, who was looking has much more gravity than just looking. Again, the Bible mentions that we are to look to Jesus, the Author and Finisher of our faith. It is on the pages of the novel of our life, (between the Author and Finisher), that we need to answer the question: “Look who’s looking.” Who is looking may be the look you’ve desperately needed.
I remember a moment, very early in Crystal and my friendship (she was dating another guy), after our church service some of us youth were hanging outside of our church, talking and carrying on, like youth do. Crystal’s family were the guest evangelists at our church and they were about to leave. As I was standing among my friends and family, I noticed Crystal was getting inside their van to travel home. It was at night, so there wasn’t much light around, except for a street light, which the van was parked right next to. I happened to take a glance over toward her van and noticed that she was sitting in the van, looking in my direction. At that very moment I thought, “Look who’s looking.” Understanding that I had become a target in the scope of baby blue eyes, I was careful of my demeanor. Pretending that I didn’t notice her looking in my direction, I carried on, like James Bond in a tuxedo, infiltrating the highest class of society. I’d say something of little of importance to my friends, then glance back toward her just to solidify what was happening. “YES! She IS looking!” About a year later, the night of her sitting in her van looking at me, came up in one of our thousand conversations we would have during our courtship. It began with Crystal asking me, “How did you know that I was interested in you?” I immediately took her back to the night I saw her looking at me. She said, “You mean you saw me? I didn’t think you could see me looking at you because the van windows are tinted and it was night time.” I said, “You were parked by the street light and the light from the street light gave you away.” She said, “You know I was dating someone at the time?” I said, “Yep, but me seeing you looking at me gave me some confidence.”
This is my point. Look who’s looking. It may mean that you need to give more eye contact to your loved ones. Because looking builds confidence. Or, it may mean that you are the one who needs more confidence. About every other day, my four year old daughter Macie and I play a game. She will go into the kitchen while I am sitting in our recliner and she will yell, “Say ladies and gentlemen!” So I say, “Ladies and Gentlemen, I introduce to you, the most beautiful, most talented, greatest bike rider, prettiest princess, greatest artist, Macieeeeee Seward!” Then I sing a trumpet fanfare. As a father, especially of a daughter, I realize how much affirmation and acceptance is important to our children. And you know what? Our Heavenly Father does too. In fact, the Father looks at us with hopeful and loving eyes. There was only one time in the history of the universe that the Father had to look away. It was when His Son was on the Cross. Can you imagine having your only begotten son cry out to you and you had to look away? Look who’s looking. Yet, because of that sacrifice, we are promised that our Heavenly Father will look for us at the Last Day.
Look who’s looking. I think that we are looking at things in the wrong way. Finally, the Bible says that we are to look at things eternal and not temporal. We spend much of our lives looking for those things that are only temporal, when what truly matters is the eternal things. When I write eternal things, I don’t only mean the spiritual things, but I also mean your loved ones. You see, all of us are looking. Jesus taught many parables about people looking. The shepherd, who leaves the ninety and nine, looking for the lost sheep. The lady with ten pieces of silver and loses one piece. And of course, the prodigal son. When we look in the mirror, who do we see? One of the fascinating things about a vision Isaiah the prophet had was when he saw the Father in Heaven, he saw himself. Our Heavenly Father has a way reflecting splendor to us, that when we truly see Him, we see how much we truly need Him. It’s not rejection. It’s projection. We were created in His likeness and in His image, and all our Heavenly Father asks for is that we project that image back.
I have the privilege of playing a digital grand piano for our worship services in church. There are many times that I play with my eyes closed. I am so captivated by the Presence of God that I do my best to shut everything out. There are also times that I will glance over to our gifted praise team and watch them give their all to Him Who sits on the Throne. And, occasionally, I’ll glance out to the congregation. In the moments of our worship before the King, we should realize that people are not the audience, but our Heavenly Father is. All He desires is that we worship Him in Spirit and in Truth.
As I write this, today is my beautiful wife’s forty-first birthday. She is so beautiful. She doesn’t look a day past twenty-five. In fact, some of her students still thinks that she is in her twenties. She is greatly blessed with youthfulness. Being together for twenty five-years, you pick up little things along the way. Some develop into healthy habits and some become something more along the lines of irritation. One of those ‘not so fond of moments’ is when Crystal will scan the imperfections on my face. She reminds me of a medical doctor scanning me for a skin disease of some sort. I know she means well. It’s not so much her looking at me that is bothersome. It is how she deals with what she finds. “Let me get that pimple for you.” Or my very least favorite, “You have a booger.” I have to remind myself that she is not revealing my imperfections as to reject me; but, she is simply helping me. I agree, it is awkward and can be embarrassing, but I’d rather her tell me, than me stand in front a hundred people on Sunday morning displaying the pimple booger monster. This is kind of how our Heavenly Father responds to us. When He reveals to us our imperfections, He points them out. It may not feel good at the time, but He does that because He wants to help us. Our Heavenly Father loves us too much to let us continue to walk in a tainted image.
Look who’s looking. When you think about it, it is like the song. We all have been blind at one time or another. Our journey in life is to see. We’ve been blinded by mistakes, human error, awkward and unorthodox moments. We all want to see the best. So, the next time you have one of those awkward moments, wondering who is looking, remember…look who’s looking. Amazing? Yes, Amazing Grace!
Sincerely,
Pastor J.C. Seward
Wow! Amazing word!! Brought tears to my eyes… So blessed to be serving under such amazing Pastors!!!