I was with a friend the other day
We were having breakfast on an outside patio at a restaurant
with a good amount of foliage
Look at that bird, that bird is so big
See him? In the tree?
I could see no bird
I was imagining a crane or a blue heron
I tried to see
The tree branches were blocking the bird
I looked harder
Which tree?
The larger tree
Still, I could see no bird
I certainly couldn’t see a heron or a crane
I moved and looked and finally I saw it, a crow
Just then she said, oh I guess it’s just a crow but it’s big
Watch that movie Winged Migration and you’ll see some big birds!
Her Perception vs My Perception
What we see and what someone else sees
and how we perceive things from how another person perceives things
may be completely different
I spent a lot of time at a farm along the river south of where I live
I saw many turkey vultures, they flew so closely overhead
that I could almost touch them
They flew right over the porch where I often sat
as they searched for prey down below
It seemed like they did this off and on all day long
They were very large and even though I’m not an avid bird watcher,
you can’t help but be awestruck by some of God’s creation
Maybe my friend had never seen a turkey vulture or an eagle
or hawk or heron or crane?
I didn’t ask, but it made me wonder:
How can two people can look at the same thing and have such
vastly different perceptions?
We all have our experiences
They have built up in our memories
which can add to the way we perceive things
If we think of when we realized Jesus was Lord,
when He was truly God in the flesh,
we had a build up of understandings that we could look back on
and see how God slowly opened our eyes
In some cases, this could have been over many years and many experiences Whoever or the whoevers that God used to help us to see
and understand the gospel helped us see more clearly
They were able to convey to us what we needed
to be able to see the way they saw Jesus
I did not try to explain to my friend what I knew
since the perceptions were about birds
A crow is not a large bird, maybe likeable
If we likened this experience to the gospel
She already is a believer but if the gospel had been the subject,
and not a bird, I am certain
the Holy Spirit would have opened the door somehow
for me to share the gospel,
If she were not saved, my heart would be for me to share with her
some of the many experiences and perceptions I have had
that had led me to Jesus and that helped me realize
He is the King of Kings and Lord of Lords,
Jesus might have given me the words
to somehow expound on how my experiences,
my testimonies of the wonderous things God has done in my life
It is possible, He would have let me describe my experiences
and to help to open her eyes to what I have encountered so that she, too,
could share in the amazement of Who Jesus is
and what He has done for all of us to reconcile us to the Father
The only One who can understand our backgrounds,
the One who opens doors with people that we encounter,
that leads conversations to be able to describe our Lord is Jesus Himself
Let us always pray and be mindful when we are with people to share what the Lord gives us, this can become one of the experiences or perceptions that another can have that can help them see that a crow really isn’t that big
We each have experiences that we can share, parts of our ongoing testimonies of what God has done in each of our lives
He also knows what each person has encountered in their lives
and how each person thinks, what they know
We should not get caught up trying to have someone see things our way,
but like Jesus does with us, meet them where they are
If we let Him drive the conversation and pray for opportunities,
every seed we plant can bear fruit for His Kingdom
So, take those opportunities He gives us to remind others of His majesty
To the weak became I as weak, that I might gain the weak:
I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some.
1 Corinthians 9:22