Flowers appear on the earth;
    the season of singing has come,
the cooing of doves
    is heard in our land.

Song of Songs 2:12

Here in our Tarboro home we have a fairly straightforward back yard with a deck, one tree, and absolutely no landscaping. Because we are here short-term we do not plan on doing anything other than let Max run out there, and sit on the deck when the weather is nice.

What is super-cool about not doing anything is that the wildflowers have had a chance to grow. Some would call these weeds, but right now they are a carpet of color so they are without a doubt wildflowers. So I am glad that the homeowner’s yard guy quit and that, to date, there have not been any new arrangements.

So here are some wildflower photographs. They tell me two things.

First – something is only a weed if you don’t like it, or if it is in the wrong place. Right now I see no weeds at all. This is not a yard but a garden, and it is full of wildflowers.

Then, how we look makes all the difference. I had to be creative to get all the angles. Sitting on the steps of the deck; sitting on the dirt; getting up close and personal; waiting for the sun to be just right. Changing out the lens on my Nikon. In other words, seeing is not passive and it is not neutral; usually it is up to us how we see.

How we see is up to us:

This is an important truth to understand, because I believe we tend to be reactive more than proactive when it comes to how we view the world around us. And, more than that, we often let other people tell us where to look, and how to look; and – incredibly – many of us also allow others to tell us what it is that we see!

It can be like this with “news” consumption. We have ceded responsibility and now look through the lens of people who intend to manipulate and whose goal is to make up our minds for us.

Seeing is not only a privilege it is a responsibility.

Seeing is not only a privilege it is a responsibility. It may be true that “the camera never lies” but the person holding the camera often does, and the person curating the images often does too.

“Loving God, please heal us and open our eyes so that we may see clearly, clearly and honestly. Teach us, that we may see your truth and allow it to set us free.”

Amen – DEREK