During a Ted Talk, Al Sekel showed an audience of adults a picture of a cartoonish black and white sketch. He asked them to describe what it depicted. They said it looked like a man and a woman in a provocative embrace. 

Sekel then explained that when he shows the same sketch to young children they see something else: nine dolphins.

How is that possible? Those are definitely not the same thing!

Sekel explains that young children have a different frame of reference than adults. People tend to put what they see into pre-existing categories. Since young children have never seen adults in a provocative embrace, they don’t have a mental category for it. (Remember that it’s a cartoonish sketch, not an actual picture.)

If adults look long enough, and if we know to look for something different, we too will start to see nine dolphins. But it’s not what we see at first. We have to keep looking.

As we consider the world around us, we tend to put what we see into pre-existing categories. If we’ve experienced disaster after disaster, we tend to see potential all around us… for disaster. But if we’ve been blessed with grace upon grace, we tend to see potential all around us… for grace.

We need to keep in mind that our past experiences don’t define us—or, at least, they don’t need to. All things are possible with God, including how he can change your perspective and the forward direction of your life. We simply need to be aware that we don’t always see all there is to see.

Perhaps that is one of the reasons Paul offers this prayer in Ephesians 1:18: “I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you…”

The eyes of your heart enlightened.

He’s talking about seeing things—truly seeing things, from that deep and perceptive place within you—in the way God invites you to see them.

Do you think nothing is ever going to change in your life? Do you feel stuck?

Maybe you’re not seeing all there is to see. Pray for God to enlighten the eyes of your heart. 

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Notes:

–Bible quotes are from the NIV.