Hidden Pictures
Does anyone remember the Highlights magazine growing up? The magazines could be found in almost every doctor’s office. The first placed I would turn in the magazine was the Hidden Pictures page where a drawing could be found that had many items hidden within the sketch. Eyeglasses might be concealed in the pile of rocks and an octopus may be obscured under the petals of a flower.
Just as some people can spot the hidden items easily while others can hardly find them at all, my husband and I see things through vastly different eyes. I see the coffee grounds left on the kitchen counter, he doesn’t. I see the wrinkles in the sheets on a bed that have not been straightened tightly enough, he doesn’t. I see dirty dishes in the sink, he doesn’t. So why should I be surprised that he hadn’t noticed the way my artificial fruit was displayed in the bowl?
You see, a couple of days ago my husband knocked a radish out of the ceramic container sitting on the coffee table. (Now you might be wondering why a fake radish would be in the bowl to begin with, but I digress.) My husband was kind enough to pick the small object up and put it back in the bowl—upside down!
In the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter which way a radish sits in the bowl, but my way happens to be right. Doesn’t everyone know that radishes belong bulb down, just like they grow? The leaves should be at the top, don’t you agree?
God has made each of us diverse with strengths as well as challenges. What makes my way right? Well… it’s simply my preference, my opinion and my way of doing things. It is no better or worse than my husband’s way of thinking, it’s just simply different.
Being “right” can make me hard and calloused, unable to listen and truly hear. It can also cause me to become inflexible and demanding of my own way. I want to have a heart that is open and teachable.
We can let little things like the story above escalate into something much bigger than it needs to be just because we think we are right, but is it worth the fight? Not in my book. In fact just to remind myself that I don’t always have to be right and to help me look at things from a different perspective I have purposefully let the radish upside down.
Take a look at the pictures above and see if you can spot the difference.
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,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them. Acts 27:28
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them. Acts 27:28
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