We had an amaryllis bulb as a Christmas present and it’s come into flower. You know the one? The flower with a long straight stem and four buds at the top of it facing in different directions like a weathervane or one of those loudspeakers they use at outdoor events.
It takes a while to do anything except grow taller, but when the buds start opening they do it suddenly and spectacularly. You go to bed one night and there’s nothing; get up next morning and there’s one huge blaring flower … you can almost hearing it blowing its own trumpet: ‘Da-DAAA!’
And in the days to follow the other three pop out, similarly OTT and in-your-face flamboyant.
If you’re lucky, which we were this time, the fourth and final bud comes into flower before the first one has died so you get all four faces of the amaryllis in flower at the same time.
But here’s the tantalising thing: you can view the amaryllis from all four angles if you walk round it or turn it round, and each view is beautiful: each face of the flower is slightly different.
But you can never see all of it at one time.
People have different views of God. I’m always fascinated to hear or read people’s accounts of how they have experienced God, how they ‘met’ Jesus, and how they see and know him.
Every person’s view is different.
Everyone who has a relationship of some kind with God has a unique relationship, never quite the same as anyone else’s.
If the amaryllis has four faces at once, God must have an infinite number of faces.
All of them equally beautiful, heartstopping and amazing.
To see what you, personally, individually, see of God is a fantastic privilege, and if you take it to heart then that vision you have is life-changing.
To know there is so much more that you can’t see is both fascinating and frustrating, especially when other people obviously see aspects of God that you have – so far, at least – never glimpsed.
Some people claim that their view of God is the only one.
Some feel that other people always see and receive and experience more than they can.
But when you’ve had even a glimpse of one of the faces of God you know he is real.
You never doubt what you’ve seen.
Whether or not you have the same belief in what other people claim to see, from a different angle or the opposite direction, one thing is indisputable.
No one can see all of God from where they’re standing, in life.
If you want to see more of him, either he has to move to change your view of him, or you have to move around him and start seeing life from a new perspective.
It takes a while to do anything except grow taller, but when the buds start opening they do it suddenly and spectacularly. You go to bed one night and there’s nothing; get up next morning and there’s one huge blaring flower … you can almost hearing it blowing its own trumpet: ‘Da-DAAA!’
And in the days to follow the other three pop out, similarly OTT and in-your-face flamboyant.
If you’re lucky, which we were this time, the fourth and final bud comes into flower before the first one has died so you get all four faces of the amaryllis in flower at the same time.
But here’s the tantalising thing: you can view the amaryllis from all four angles if you walk round it or turn it round, and each view is beautiful: each face of the flower is slightly different.
But you can never see all of it at one time.
People have different views of God. I’m always fascinated to hear or read people’s accounts of how they have experienced God, how they ‘met’ Jesus, and how they see and know him.
Every person’s view is different.
Everyone who has a relationship of some kind with God has a unique relationship, never quite the same as anyone else’s.
If the amaryllis has four faces at once, God must have an infinite number of faces.
All of them equally beautiful, heartstopping and amazing.
To see what you, personally, individually, see of God is a fantastic privilege, and if you take it to heart then that vision you have is life-changing.
To know there is so much more that you can’t see is both fascinating and frustrating, especially when other people obviously see aspects of God that you have – so far, at least – never glimpsed.
Some people claim that their view of God is the only one.
Some feel that other people always see and receive and experience more than they can.
But when you’ve had even a glimpse of one of the faces of God you know he is real.
You never doubt what you’ve seen.
Whether or not you have the same belief in what other people claim to see, from a different angle or the opposite direction, one thing is indisputable.
No one can see all of God from where they’re standing, in life.
If you want to see more of him, either he has to move to change your view of him, or you have to move around him and start seeing life from a new perspective.
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