Seen

“For the Lord sees clearly what a man does, examining every path he takes.”
‭‭Proverbs‬ ‭5:21‬ ‭

I was seen today.

Really seen.

(In a good way. Read on. I mean it.)

I was choosing the writing samples I wanted to use to highlight great writing today at the end of our wee writing class. I use my document camera to project their pieces of writing onto the SmartBoard so that they can benefit from the creativity and self expression of their peers.

Piling them all onto the tiny desk that my laptop sits on has been problematic. They slip. They put enough pressure onto the keyboard that they end up monkeying with the document camera settings. They knock other things off and when I bend to pick them up, it gets – well, complicated. It wastes time and we lose momentum quickly when our collective attention span is about six nanoseconds. So for several days now I have been grabbing a small chair from an adjacent table to place the journals and mini books onto.

Problem solved.

Today, I was just turning to grab said chair when it happened.

A wee little already had the chair placed in the exact spot I wanted it in.

My heart melted.

I mean, seriously.

She not only had noticed what I was doing, but understood what my action was for and anticipated the need before I could meet it myself.

I tell you, it is amazing to be seen and cared for to that extent.

I mean, how adorable is that?

Now let’s get back to our verse in Proverbs.

I used to think this was a kinda scary proposition. God sees me? Kinda like that creepy song about Santa – ‘He sees you when you’re sleeping/ He knows when you’re awake / He knows when you’ve been bad or good, so be good for goodness’ sake!’

Ick.

But that was back when I didn’t know God or His character very well yet. I assumed he was like my dad – a strict and sometimes harsh disciplinarian. I slipped into the fear of making mistakes because I was convinced I was being watched in order to be punished and reminded of my failures.

It took a long time to ditch that skewed view of God.

Yes, God is perfect and hates sin.

But oh, how He loves His own…

He watches, not to jump on my failures and point out my every false step, but to grab a chair and put it in place for me so that my journals aren’t slipping willy nilly all over the place.

(Well, not exactly. But you get the idea.)

See, my little saw me and anticipated my need. In the same way, God sees me. Understands what I need. Moves and works in ways to ensure my success and growth and development as His child.

Yes, He will prompt me to change when I need to. That’s what we as parents and teachers do for our children, too. Love is like that – always looking to prod us in the right direction and stop us from making decisions that will hurt us and others.

But oh, how God sees – our needs. Our dreams and desires. Our purpose. Our quirks and gifts and talents and tendencies, the good and the underdeveloped.

He gets us.

He examines our path to ensure it is the best one for us. He may block a path that we desperately want, in order to give us the path we desperately need.

And every step of the way, He loves us.

That chair move?

I interpreted it as an act of kindness and love. I knew what it meant.

I had been seen. Understood. And cared about enough to step into action.

Re-examine your view of being seen by God with me?

Father, how good it is to be seen and loved and understood completely by You! Help us to readjust our views of You if they don’t measure up to Your actual character. Remind us that we are closely examined, not to be kicked down, but to be helped, built up, trained, and moved. Amen.