Table Salt: In plain sight

My good friend and mentor shared a funny story with me several years back. She and her husband were in Florida to read, write, and rest. One of their favorite things to do is browse used bookstores. They visited a shop, spending time rifling through many shelves and boxes of literary treasures.

Time seemed to stand still while their minds were lost in the pages. After they made their purchases and prepared to head out of the store, my friend realized she had lost her sunglasses. She rifled through her purse and coat pockets, coming up empty. Her husband hadn’t seen them, so they asked the clerk, leading to a search party.

Scanning the shelves and tables, the detectives didn’t find a single trace of the lost sunglasses. My friend was perplexed, knowing she had entered the store wearing them. When she began to scratch her head in wonder, her hand met her sunglasses. The whole time, they were sitting right on her nose.

They certainly got a good laugh out of the ordeal. During the rushing and scrambling of the search, they didn’t even think of looking in the most obvious place, right where they belonged. Looking through the ultraviolet protection, my friend was able to continue shopping for books. However, once she found and removed the shades, she saw the bookstore in a whole new light.

God wants to adjust the lenses we look through. Is our view clouded by the world's busyness and expectations set by humans? Are we blinded by the material items that surround us? Asking God to remove the distractions and give us the courage to step away from them, can offer a whole new view.

Lean into the picture of what God has in store for you, removing the image you created for yourself. God’s view is picture perfect. When you spend quiet time in prayer, listening, and reflecting, God will wipe the filters away, revealing only His way.

What do you need to step away from in order to clearly see His vision? Perhaps our calling is in plain sight.

“The Lord answered me, and said, write the vision, and make it plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth it.”

Habakkuk 2:2