To Be Seen

There’s a true comfort in being seen. Not just noticed, but actually seen. In the Gospel of Luke, we hear the story of Zacchaeus. He was described as a short man, who, in order to better see Jesus, climbed a tree to get a clear view. Jesus came to the base of the tree, looked directly up at Zacchaeus, called him by name and asked him to come down.

Zacchaeus tried to put himself in a position to see Jesus, but left having been seen by Him.

I think that echoes the character of God so clearly. If we are to see as God does, we have to look past what we can see with our eyes, and embrace what we can see with our heart. A few weeks ago, I had the honor of traveling to Haiti. During our time, we visited different ministry sites in Port au Prince. One of the places we ended up was a construction site, where a local family was helping a contracting crew build their home. As I was looking around the sides of the home, I noticed a little girl of about 6 or 7 curiously looking from over the fence of the house next door. We made eye contact, and we both moved closer to each other. We were separated by the fence still, as there was rebar and other dangerous construction materials everywhere. There was one hole through the bushes and the fence, though, that I could stick my hand through, allowing us to shake hands.

I don’t speak French or Creole. She didn’t speak English. Yet, in that moment, I saw her. Above the noises of concrete mixing, people talking, and all the other construction sounds, I saw her. There were about 20 people on the side of the fence that I was on. On her side, she was alone. And yet, she was seen. I tried to tell her she was beautiful; that she was loved. We only spent about 5 minutes together in total, but those 5 minutes have stuck with me.

I was challenged in that moment to always try to see people the way that Jesus sees them: individually.

By: Renee Gillespie, Social Media & Short-Term Teams Coordinator