Thanksgiving is a week from tomorrow.  One week.  How in the world did it come so fast?  Doesn’t seem possible.

Woke up to sunshine this morning with bright blue skies – clouds were around our mountains, so couldn’t see them.  Since then it has clouded up a bit and we will probably get rain.

Took the last of the peppers off their vines yesterday, sliced up some for fajitas and chopped up the rest for freezing.

Among the bells and bananas were the Anaheims, the are the mildest of the hot peppers, but that is just fine with us – gives us a slight tinge, but easily eaten.

However, if you don’t wash your hands thoroughly enough and then, after cutting them up, put a finger to rub your eye, they do have an effect on ya.  Took a lot of work getting the my eye so I could open it back up.  Stung a bit.

Psalm 119:18 Open thou mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of thy law

When you walk outside your door, what do you see?  Do you think it is the same thing as it was yesterday, so you don’t really look around?

Carla and our children are very good at seeing things others do not see.  They just notice things, the little things that others overlook.  The gift has to come from Carla, because I am not that observant.

As a police officer I did learn to see more than the average person.  We had a Sergeant that helped train us in observation skills.  That man was incredible and everyone recognized his gift, he saw things no one else did; no one else.

He found a stolen car while on vacation, it was in a ravine alongside a very busy highway and had been down there several days.  Thousands of cars had driven by, including police officers, but none had seen it.

I can remember his minister telling me about it and saying ‘he was on vacation, doesn’t he turn this off?’  My answer was simple, “no, no more than would forget his calling when on vacation.”

As a police officer you just can’t turn it off.  I am not as good as I was when working the streets, but I still see things that others do not – and evaluate it to see if there is any danger.

You learn to see things.  When I first started out I was told that once I became familiar with the back alleys I would notice if a garbage can was six inches out of place.  It took a while, but they were right, you learn to look for the unusual, the out of place things, it could mean that a crime had or is occurring.

You learn to take in a crime scene in a short time, looking to see where the clues may be – you see activity differently because you are aware; you have learned how to watch.

As a Realtor I used to tell my clients to go back into the house they think they want to buy.  The first time through they see the house, the next time(s) through they begin to see the little things, my job was to help them see those so they could decide if the flaws OR positive things made a difference to them.

Some, like my Sergeant, my wife and kids, see things naturally, it is just a gift they have.

The rest of us must train ourselves to see things. 

It is the same thing with the spiritual things around us.  Some people are blessed with the ability to see God’s hand in everything they encounter; the rest of us have to refocus our eyes on a regular basis so we can see God’s work even if it is right in front of us.

Do we see the hurting of a friend or neighbor?  Do we listen to the coworker who is suffering, seeing his need for comforting?

Some things are obvious, but there are far more things that we encounter every single day, that if we were truly ‘seeing’ we would pray with them, we would be available to them, we would help them find the peace they so desperately need.

What do we see when we see a baby, the leafing out of a tree, the flower that is just starting to come out of the ground, the hills around us, the many things God has given us to make our lives, easier or productive or even matter?

His handiwork is all around us.  His Creation, as He has told us in His Word is out there for us to see and enjoy.  His love is in all of it, and we share it by simply seeing what He has done.

Open my eyes Lord, let me see your handiwork in my world; show me how I can promote your love and your creation to others.

Later, Art (-: