Now You See It
Is it a duck or a bunny? Do you see an old woman or a young girl? Is the dress blue and black or gold and white?
We all love those moments when we relax our eyes or turn our heads and suddenly see something new. It feels like magic! (Except that last one. If you see anything but a black and blue dress, there’s something wrong with your eyes. That’s what science says.)
When I was a kid, those 3D Magic Eye posters were all the rage. You would walk through the mall and see people of every age, color, and demographic standing side by side trying to relax their eyes enough until they would exclaim, “I see it! It’s a limousine being driven by a giraffe!” Or, if you were me, you would wait for someone else to proclaim what it was and then chime in, “Oh yeah! I see it too!”
Regardless, we love that moment, that moment when your perspective shifts and you see something brand new. It’s a pleasant surprise to see something that was once hidden but is now so obvious to you. And if you are like me, you enjoy relaxing and shifting your eyes back and forth so you can see first one object and then another, a duck and now a bunny! It almost feels like being bilingual—as if you are speaking two languages at once in your head. It’s a thrill!
It’s a thrill, at least, when it’s a harmless drawing on a page. A true shift in perspective, though, the kind that gives you an instant gut check, can feel uncomfortable as you realize a belief you have held all your life has another side to it. When a joke you have always found clever, you suddenly realize is offensive. When an act of kindness you intended with absolute innocence is interpreted as condescending or self-serving. With so many of us on this planet, experiencing life through so many different sets of eyes, it is inevitable that we will find ourselves in the midst of a shift of perspective or two. Even more so as we dive deeper into community with one another, as Jesus commands.
And these kinds of perspective shifts, while not as much fun on the surface as an old woman appearing where a young one stood before, are so much more valuable, not only to improving our world but also in following Jesus more clearly and ardently. To hear the story of a person who grew up on the other side of the world from you, on the other side of the country, or even on the other side of the city, and realize how their beliefs about you, our nation, and even God are just as true or meaningful or valid as yours also feels like some brand of magic. Even more thrillingly intimidating is when you realize their viewpoint is in complete opposition to yours, and you are suddenly presented with an opportunity to see them in the exact way Jesus sees you.
“Grace joins hands with humility and asks how you will change because of this new image you have seen.”
It requires not a small amount of humility to allow our perspective to shift, even in the slightest. We have to be willing to admit we may not know all there is to know. We have to be willing to admit our life experiences are not universal. And we have to truly believe that all are created equally by God. We have to leave our pride at the door and admit when we gaze upon a stranger, we are gazing upon an expression of God. If you aren’t willing to admit the duck lives in the same sketch as the bunny, you will never find his clever little bill. If you insist that the painting contains only one animal, you eliminate your ability to ever see more than what you believe is already there. You will deprive yourself of the magic.
Sometimes when your perspective shifts and you see that hidden-in-plain-sight different side of the story, there is a sudden discomfort. Your own arrogance or ignorance might hit you with a one-two punch of shame and guilt. “How could I have never seen that before?” Let me encourage you to sit with that discomfort for just a moment. Don’t sit in the discomfort but sit with it. Turn it over in your hands and ask yourself the hard questions of “Where did this come from?” and “What is the bigger truth here for me?” Sit for a few minutes in that uncomfortably hard moment, asking those hard questions, and then wait expectantly for God’s grace to wash over you.
Healthy perspective shifts always end with grace. In order to provoke change in us, they have to. If not for grace, we might become lost in the overwhelming weight of how wrong our world can feel. When we face our pride and arrogance and see the bunny for the first time and realize there was more to the picture than we originally thought, grace comes rushing in. Grace joins hands with humility and asks how you will change because of this new image you have seen.
It’s like magic. It leaves us wanting more and marveling at how much more there is to see. It’s not always easy. The 3D giraffe chauffeur doesn’t always come right away. Those hard conversations can feel an awful lot like work. They can bruise our egos, hurt our feelings, and landmines seem inevitable with every footfall. But when they emerge, when you find yourself saying, “Ah! I see it now! I see there is another side to this coin,” you find the magic. You gain perspective, and you might even gain a friend. You most definitely gain further insight into the limitless grace and humility of our Savior. And the work suddenly seems invaluable.
Reagan Perkins and her family have been attending Summit for the past six years. She is one of the volunteer writers for Summit Magazine and leads the prayer team at the Herndon Campus. She likes to write, cook, and try not to kill things in the garden. You can (and should) read her personal blog right here.