Observing the Unobservable

We dropped the girls off at a party on Friday evening and headed over to Coffee Beans and Books for couple time.  It’s only an hour before they close, but hey you take what you can get.  Coffee Beans and Books is a café located in the library of a previous Jr. High in our area.  A white French cut door invites guests into a room filled with books new and used.  Comfortable overstuffed chairs are strewn around the room, and amazingly polished wooden floors shine like a sea of glass.  Jars of coffee and tea line the wall.  Light streams through the windows. 

It’s interesting how observing surroundings has become a part of life.  I’m not sure when it began, but attending Portland’s Worldview honed the skill.  That’s the place where we were trained to learn about our host country by making deliberate observations of their culture.  Practice sessions were at places like Lan Su Chinese Garden, Hawthorne District, Pittock Mansion and Pioneer Courthouse Square.  Those meticulous assignments seemed wearisome at the time but in the end helped shape an appreciation for the oft overlooked details that communicate so much.

Observing the unobservable is just a little bit harder but not impossible.  It begins with the assumption that God is always and everywhere at work.  The trained eye sees Unseen movements.   The untrained eye sees…nothing.  On the surface all looks crusty.  Circumstances seem meaningless. Actions fail to reveal any secret   stirring of the heart.  Time drags on. 

In the realm of the supernatural activities abound.  The work is steady, continuous, unrelenting.  Time stands still.  God is the initiator.  We are not.  We do not nervously try to save people at the last minute or put them on the right track.  Our part is to observe, to confirm, to name, to articulate what God has already set in motion.

But so much for observations, it’s time to get on with enjoying the evening.  We only have an hour before closing, and I want to take full advantage of it before heading out to the El Mariachi for tacos.