Seeing Beyond

My decision to restore the old Carter family home set a miracle in motion in my life, though on that first night, it sure didn’t feel like it. A miracle is happening in your life too, even if you can’t quite see it.

Jesus is making all things new, but some days it feels like the work – whether restoration of a physical house or the house of our lives – is nothing but a mess. And why is it taking so long? Why can’t Jesus just wave his miracle-maker hands and help us get this work done faster? Why does he sometimes heal with spit and mud and then require us to go wash ourselves up, rather than sending us to a figurative, sanitized hospital room where trained caregivers wait on our every need (see John 9:6-7)?

Recently, I was thinking about my love of and fascination with before-and-after pictures and before-and-after stories. It’s a common thread woven throughout my loves: photography, home restoration, people’s stories, my soul.

Some days I can barely remember the “before” that was this home. When I see those original photos now, I hardly recognize the place – and I surely can’t believe I took it on from where it had once been. The feeling that comes looking back on such a transformation is hard to describe.

Is it possible to stand on the “before” side of the mess and have an equally thrilling feeling? I think it is. I call it “seeing beyond” – looking past the evidence of chaos and impossibility to what might be.

As a photographer, I have to “see beyond” each time I walk into a photo shoot. I have to see beyond the imperfections of a setting and look for the beauty, the negative spaces, the beams of light that break through. I have to see beyond a person’s surface appearance and look into their soul, their story, their journey. If I don’t, I won’t know what I want my camera to capture. I won’t be looking at the true person. I talk to them and pull out what makes them smile and laugh, what brings them joy, what moves them. This is the only way I know to capture the real beauty of each person I meet – by seeing past the surface and into what is less obvious but more important. This is how the Holy Spirit sees you and me.

Seeing through Christ’s eyes into the beyond is a beautiful way of living, and the Spirit helps us make this possible, whether we are looking into the discouraging spaces of our own messy lives or the brokenness of someone else’s. When we can see past the lnsta-perfection of our curated, tidy, picture-perfect lives into the truth, then we can experience hope and healing. Then we can invite other people into this shared space where we really see each other and serve each other.