The Art and Practice of Seeing
Here are a few questions to prompt your own explorations of “seeing.”
- What do we see?
- How do we see?
- What perspectives and assumptions inform our seeing?
- How does our faith, and our understandings of God, guide our “sight.”
Here are a few thoughts about seeing:
Have you ever worked a jigsaw puzzle, noticing that when you thought you were looking for a particular color or aspect/object, you realized the piece that actually fit was very different than what you were certain you were seeking?
I have a friend who said her family sometimes works puzzles together. They sit at a table and work on the part of the puzzle in front of them. Every so often, they rotate chairs, and it’s surprising how quickly pieces are discovered to fit into the puzzle, once their perspectives change.
I have heard abut a team in an office that use a jigsaw puzzle – as a way to decompress, team-build, and inspire innovative thinking. Members of the team will go to the puzzle as a way to take a break. They allow themselves to fit a maximum number of pieces (maybe 4-6) and then they go back to work. They have been excited to see how this has helped build community on their small team. They have also been excited to see that when they go back to work, they often “see” an answer or possibility they couldn’t see before.
When my sisters and I took a road trip together about ten years ago, it was funny how one of us would say “do you remember…” and relate a story of something that happened when we were kids. And another sister would say, “So that’s how you remember that!” — We see things differently.
This reminds me of how many marginalized communities speak of reading scripture from their own shoes, through their own experiences, … and how that opens up possibilities and insights for our understanding.
I am grateful for the many times my spiritual director (or my peer supervision group) can “see” something that’s going on in me/my life, to make connections that I haven’t been able to “see” on my own.
And I am so grateful for being able to view people through the lens of the “image of God.” Affirming that each person is created in God’s image provides a more beautiful way to see them, and to move through life.
I invite you to reflect on your “art and practice” of seeing.
Rev. Glynden Bode, Board of Directors, Fellowship of United Methodist Spiritual Directors and Retreat Leaders: Hearts on Fire. [Photos provided by Rev. Glynden Bode.]
These reflections represent the view of the author.
Hearts On Fire Retreat
July 17-20, 2023
@ Ignatius House Jesuit Retreat Center
near Atlanta, GA
Hearts on Fire for a World on Fire:
Spiritual Direction and Social Transformation
with Rev. Daniel Wolpert