Recently it was necessary for me to spend some time waiting. No one’s favorite pastime I suppose, but as it was, I was in a beautiful and spacious atrium that was very well lit and furnished as comfortably as you could hope for.

The architecture of the room was itself very appealing, and the colors selected for the walls, woodwork and stone were perfect to please both eye and soul. Plants and artwork had been carefully chosen to improve and enhance the ambiance. I found it a joy to be in a place so relaxing to my mind as well as to my body.

While I sat there, however, my eye happened to land on a part of the wall where the texturing was slightly imperfect. With that, my eye then wandered a bit more to a small bit of paint that ever so slightly trespassed on to the wainscoting. Two pieces of trim were a tad off center where a workman had joined them together. A picture hung slightly crooked, if you were to look closely, you could see it. There was a bug, a small bug, hanging to the ceiling and the discerning eye that could see that critter could also spot the bit of dust that was on one of the sconces hung on the wall.

My point? No matter how nice we have it, we are still capable of nit-picking our situation to death while making ourselves oblivious to the blessings all around us.

Perhaps this was some of what Jesus was talking about when he said:

“The eye is the lamp of the body; so then if your eye is clear, your whole body will be full of light. But if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness.” Matthew 6:22-23

We usually notice what we train our eyes to see. Even in a beautiful place such as the one in which I found myself above, you can find imperfections if that’s what you look for. If we look for the beauty, however, we can find that as well.

This world is fallen and polluted by sin, but there is yet something of God in it. The same is true of you and me. Each of us is tainted by our own sin. Thank God that Jesus’ clear eye sees more in us than our foolish, selfish ways. It seems to me, that we should see more than that as well.