I love kaleidoscopes! A new picture with every turn. Melodi Leih applies the metaphor of a kaleidoscope to how God sees versus how we see. Read on and turn your view ...
Elisa
Kaleidoscope
By Melodi Leih
Do you remember playing with a kaleidoscope when you were little? I remember being fascinated by the colors and how they changed when I turned them in different directions. A kaleidoscope is typically a cylinder with mirrors containing loose, colored objects such as beads, pebbles and bits of glass. As you look through one end, light entering the other end creates a colorful pattern, because of the reflection in the mirrors.
Kaleidoscopes make it possible to view everyday objects in extraordinary ways. You can point the scope in different directions to pick up different colors or backgrounds, but you are unable to predict exactly what you will see.
I started thinking about this kaleidoscope effect when my son-in-law Nolan's band, Urban Rescue, released a song with the same name. The story behind the song is based on the question, "What would this ordinary situation look like through the lens of God?" Jordan (the song writer) remarks, "I immediately thought of the toy, a kaleidoscope, and colors rearranging and faces becoming new. When you look through a kaleidoscope, everything changes. The substance stays the same, but you see it differently. In this moment, I said to myself, 'God, I want to see what you see.' I want to be changed. I want Heaven's eyes and Heaven's sight."
I started thinking about people in my life this way and started praying for God to change me and how I see them instead of expecting the change to come from somewhere else. I want to be able to see the uniqueness of each person I meet, the beauty in the rough edges and the potential yet to be discovered.
The chorus of the song says, "Let your love be my kaleidoscope." I desperately want to see people like Jesus does and feel his love for others. Seeing people this way broadens our view and lifts our gaze to recognize the beauty in ordinary interactions. The changing colors of the kaleidoscope become more brilliant, rough edges become smooth and new dimensions begin to take shape and the ordinary becomes extraordinarily beautiful.
Learning to love like Jesus is an ongoing journey - one we can choose to continually invest in. One day at a time, one choice at a time, one word at a time, we can let his love be our kaleidoscope so we see what he sees.
"Because a loveless world," said Jesus, "is a sightless world. If anyone loves Me, he will carefully keep My word and my Father will love him - we'll move right into the neighborhood! Not loving Me means not keeping My words. The message you are hearing isn't Mine. It's the message of the Father who sent Me. John 14:23-24 (MSG)
Melodi Leih enjoys developing women leaders in her work for MOPS International as Regional Volunteer Manager. She is married to Mike and is mom to three children and one amazing son-in-law. She enjoys music, reading and spending time with her family.
You can listen to Urban Rescue's Kaleidoscope on their music video.