Eyes to See the Glorious

I fight the noise to hear the silence
But for a moment feel the breeze
I've been lost inside the madness
Of a world that’s run so far away
From where we’re meant to be
Where are You now?

We live among the glorious
And we've got to try to see
Give me eyes to see the glorious
The beauty that has always been
Right in front of me

Heaven knows You have done enough
You bent the stars to fit my view
You’re the blanket of unending love
That’s always here to cover us
Like the morning dew
I see You now

I have come to behold You
And I will never be the same
I am reaching out to touch You
So fall on me like rain

Let me guess what you're thinking: "Wow, Katie's getting poetic on us." Not in the least- I wish I had that talent. My poetry skills peaked in 6Th grade when Heidi and I would write Easter poems for our grandparents. These are the lyrics from the song "Glorious" from my new favorite group, Grey Holiday. Lindsay introduced me to this amazing band and God has been speaking to me through their incredible songs. (Check them out on I-tunes. I HIGHLY recommend them. I realize this comes from a girl who was once a Hanson fan, but I guarantee you won't be disappointed by this group.)

This song, Glorious," especially touches on something God has been pressing on my heart lately: seeing the world with my "eternal eyes" rather than my "earthly eyes." Every place, every situation, every trial, every person I encounter can be viewed with either from a human perspective or God's perspective, and I've come to realize I have a choice in which eyes I use. It is most natural to use my earthly eyes: to see the piles of work ahead of me and groan, to see trials and cry, to see junior highers and get stressed, to see poverty and doubt God. Or I can choose to use my "eternal eyes" and see things from a heavenly perspective, with eternal thoughts in mind. I can see piles of work and rejoice that God is using me to teach young minds, see trials and know that God uses the trials to refine me and draw me to Himself, see my junior highers and praise God that I am daily forced to rely on His strength, see poverty and know that God is so much bigger than I can ever comprehend; that He loves these lost and hurting Mozambicans more than I ever could and has not forgotten them and hears their cries.

I think part of the reason the world doesn't understand Christianity is because they don't understand that we have 2 sets of eyes. (no reference to the "eyes on the back of my head") We have one set that is like theirs and unfortunately, I use this set too often. But we also have another set of eyes, another radical perspective, a set of eyes that reveals the world in a completely different way. This perspective enables Christians to "consider it pure joy when facing trials of many kinds," to love our enemies, to consider others better than ourselves, to consider everything "rubbish" compared to knowing Jesus, to get excited about death, knowing that our citizenship is in Heaven and that we are strangers on this earth. This perspective is foolishness to those who don't believe.

I love how part of the chorus of the song is a prayer: Give me eyes to see the glorious. The beauty that has always been right in front of me. This is my prayer request; that I would have eyes to "see the glorious," that I would use my "eternal eyes" and see this world through God's lens; see people and situations as He would. It seems so simple but why then is it so hard for me to do this consistently?