{"id":17,"date":"2013-11-22T21:44:00","date_gmt":"2013-11-22T21:44:00","guid":{"rendered":""},"modified":"2018-09-09T02:25:33","modified_gmt":"2018-09-09T02:25:33","slug":"i-see-you","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.melton.space\/pharisee\/index.php\/2013\/11\/22\/i-see-you\/","title":{"rendered":"I See You"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Lord your God is with you,
\n    the Mighty Warrior who saves.
\nHe will take great delight in you;
\n    in his love he will no longer rebuke you,
\n    but will rejoice over you with singing.
\nZephaniah 3:17<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\u201cI see you.\u201d This line is a linchpin to the plot line of the movie Avatar<\/u>. It conveys more than just acknowledgement of image recognition from the ocular receptors. It expresses an awareness of the existence, person-hood, significance of the other. When my dog comes to me with his tail wagging, his nose up and his eyes eagerly seeking mine, I often tell him \u201cI see you.\u201d<\/p>\n

A friend of mine was telling me a story of when he worked in a fruit stand. He said that he would often come home depressed and distressed. He finally figured out that he had gone all day and no one had seen<\/i> him. It sucked the life from his soul.<\/p>\n

We all have an innate need for significance. I think that may be one reason why we love our pets so much (I\u2019ll be generous here and include cats for you cat-lovers, but I cannot fathom how a cat makes you feel significant). My dog loves me with an unconditional love, which is odd because my wife is the one who walks him, feeds him, lets him outside. But when I\u2019m home, he wants nothing more than to be in the room where I am. He craves my attention and affection, but is content when my activities don\u2019t include him, as long as he can be near-by. To this animal, I am the most important person on earth, and his world revolves around me.<\/p>\n

We look for significance in our families. As children we crave parental acknowledgement and approval. I watch toddlers tugging and pulling at mom or dad, trying to turn their attention from whatever they are doing and onto themselves. \u201cWatch me!\u201d is a cry heard often from the lips of children. What they are really saying is, \u201cdo you see me?\u201d Some children will sacrifice and push themselves to significant accomplishments in an effort to make mom or dad proud. Others resort to destructive activities just to get attention, to be \u201cseen\u201d. Because if you don\u2019t even know I exist, then do I matter?<\/p>\n

We look for significance from the opposite sex, at great peril to our self-esteem. Will anyone find me attractive? Does anyone want to be with me? Do you see me? And should we find someone who is willing to walk along our journey with us, we put even more pressure on the relationship. We ask our spouses to be intimately aware and interested in our day-to-day activities (which often as not are not their activities, and their focus is naturally elsewhere). Inasmuch as the spoken or unspoken childlike cry of \u201cWatch me!\u201d is unheeded, we may feel a lack of significance. After all, if the most important person in my life doesn\u2019t \u201csee me\u201d, then do I matter?<\/p>\n

We look for significance in our work. Yet, in truth, few of us can claim that the fruits of our labors will outlast our memory. I\u2019ve been working on the same project for nearly 15 years, and I\u2019m pretty sure it will disappear shortly after I retire. All that I\u2019ve \u201caccomplished\u201d will come to naught. What about the people with whom I\u2019ve crossed paths? Will anyone come to my \u201cgoing away\u201d lunch? Will there be one? Do I matter?<\/p>\n

As we age, often sequestered in \u201cretirement communities\u201d, we look back on a lifetime of experience and wonder if there is anyone to share it with. in particular, do our children, in whom we invested so much of the energy of our youth, have any desire to be a part of our life? Does anyone want to hear our story? Does anyone see<\/i> me? Do I matter?<\/p>\n

The Bible teaches that God, the creator of the universe, the one who placed countless stars in the sky and put the earth in orbit around one; he who established boundaries for the oceans, raised up the mountains and lowered the valleys; who placed the moon in the sky to provide light in the night and cleanse the oceans with the tides; who filled the earth with green plants and adorned it with colorful flowers; who causes the trees to erupt in a cacophony of color before shedding their leaves for the stillness of winter; who delights in creating eagles and hawks to soar majestically above the earth and penguins and ostriches who cannot fly at all, and the albatross, who is inept<\/a> at take-off and landing but who can fly for long distances without flapping; this God knows you and calls you by name, he has numbered the hairs on your head and loves you so fiercely, so passionately, so completely that he saw no choice but to die for your sake, so that you can be forgiven of your sins and restored to the relationship with Him that he has always desired; this God sees<\/i> you.<\/span><\/p>\n

If you are searching for significance, the only reliable place to start is with God. He will never leave you nor forsake you. You matter to him.<\/p>\n

If you have significance, make an effort to give it to others.<\/p>\n

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