Seeing, believing and spiritual sight

I love the colour green. My friends know it and often I am the recipient of green clothes, handbags  and other items for birthday and Christmas presents.  I love to go on holidays to green places full of wonderful plants and scenery.  In my Christian mindfulness I am so thankful for this beautiful planet that God has given us to enjoy. Each fascinating insight into this world brings me a step closer to understanding the Creator God who made it for my enjoyment.

One of the processes that I use during Christian mindfulness meditation is an intentional awareness of my senses. We have 5 physical senses that our body uses to build a picture of the world around us as we navigate life. Our sight – being able to see a visual picture through our eyes and have our brain interpret that image so that it makes sense. Our hearing- being able to hear subtle sounds and detect the sounds of danger and the sounds of safety so that our bodies can interpret language and communication and keep us connected to each other.  Our taste- with this sense concentrated in our mouth to detect which foods are appropriate and to reject foods which may cause harm. Our sense of smell has such an ability to evoke memories and reminders of places of intimacy and safety and comfort. Our sense of touch and feel- which is such an important sense to allow us to move our bodies from danger in an instant, and be tickled or touched intimately. All of these senses are gifts from God to assist with being human and connecting with each other and with God.

As well as physical senses, God has also given us spiritual senses. Jesus spoke many times about the people around him having eyes but not seeing and having ears but not hearing.( Matthew 13:11-17;  John 9:39; John 8:43). The reason Jesus spoke in parables was– that the ones with spiritual eyes and ears would see what he was speaking about and hear what the words meant.  When people ask Jesus to be their Lord and saviour they invite the Holy Spirit to come into their life.  This same Holy Spirit has a spiritual language that he uses to speak to us.  I’m not talking about a divine spiritual gift of tongues but of the language of the Spirit which has a meaning beyond the words that are spoken. Jesus spoke in the language of the Spirit. He spoke of things – very natural things that were a symbol or a metaphor of spiritual truths. So there is a language of the Spirit which if we have ears to hear we will hear it. If we have spiritual eyes we will see it.  So understanding comes into your heart and it brings a turning to Jesus, a repentance from the past and allows a healing to come into your life. In Matthew 13:15 Jesus says “For this people’s heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, and understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them.”   NIV

I can connect with Jesus at any time of the day or night. I ask for the Holy Spirit to show me the things that I need to see and to hear the things that I need to hear. I ask for eyes that see the spiritual- the images or the metaphors of the Spirit, and hear the words from the Holy Spirit the language of God  and understand what this truth means. I want spiritual understanding so that my heart is changed and I repent of dead works and turn to Jesus to do works of life that the Holy Spirit leads me to.

I want to finish this blog with a small analogy that I hope has a spiritual significance. I asked the Holy Spirit for some inspiration on what to write and the word “Chlorophyll” came into my mind. I knew that this was from God as it wasn’t something I would have thought of myself.  This is an example of spiritual hearing.  The word Chlorophyll is an example of Spiritual language. God intends for me to know more than the plain definition of that word.

Plants use a chemical called Chlorophyll to convert light energy from the sun into chemical energy for fuel for the plant to enable growth.  Each plant holds these chlorophyll components in their leaves and stems and this imparts a green colour.  We can’t see the conversion of the light energy into chemical energy. It is something that scientists have been able to work out with research and testing. We believe the scientists have proven the existence of Chlorophyll and yet there is still a mystery in this. The plants use dead air full of carbon dioxide and are able in the same process of energy conversion to make clean air- full of oxygen. While the process inside the plant brings about life and growth in the plant it also impacts the world around it by producing oxygen. All of these things are possible because the plant was impacted by light. Plants  leaves follow the sun. They turn to the sun to get the most sunlight possible. Plants compete for the best exposure to the sun to capture the light which then becomes chemical energy and also oxygen.

Right now while I write this blog my family is on holidays in a very green place. It is a tropical location with rain forests and beaches and plenty of green plants of every size and shape. Without exposure to light many plants die off or remain stunted in their growth. But in the light they thrive and impact the environment. We traveled in a cable car yesterday to observe the rain forest canopy and saw plenty of plants which have taken residence in the tops of the rain forest trees. The whole scene was very lush and green.  I took lots of photos until my camera battery died. Just as we were finishing the ride, two beautiful  azure blue butterflies burst out of the canopy into a dance in the sunlight. They were obvious to us as they were of a brilliant blue colour and didn’t blend into the green canopy. I gasped at their blueness and thanked my heavenly Father for making such intricate creatures for my enjoyment at that moment. But I also thanked him for the greenery, the plants that were so abundant in my sight.

You are like a plant. How are you like a plant you may ask? Let me explain. God created you to worship God and to do the good works destined for you. Jesus said he is the light of the world in John 8:12 and that if we follow Jesus we will never walk in darkness. By seeking Jesus, turning to him to be exposed to his light continuously, we too become reflectors of light and Jesus. The colour green in the plants is a reflection. We see green because all the spectrum of colour is being absorbed except the green which is reflected and becomes the colour we see. By following Jesus you too will experience growth and a turning of your dead works into good works that are your destiny to do. You will impact your environment because of the light of life that you have been exposed to. You too will reflect Jesus in all that you do and all that you say. I pray you have spiritual  eyes to see this and spiritual ears to hear these words and to understand in your heart and be healed.