What will I see?

What will I see? I’ve been thinking a lot about this question lately and trying to figure out what I think the question means.

I met a woman this week who really gets this question. She sees unbelievable beauty in people who have constantly been told they have no beauty and believe that what they’ve been told is true. But Barbara believes otherwise. Barbara is the director of a local Christian social service agency that serves homeless women and children. I met Barbara because of a project I’m working on trying to develop a post transitional housing program for families leaving the homeless shelter system. We met to discuss business and planned to address the nuances of how to structure the proposed program, not to discuss her heart toward the women who enter her agency’s drug recovery program. Almost immediately I was captivated by Barbara. Her heart and the way she sees people are so different from the ways I often encounter people.

You see, as she began to talk about the program and the women they serve, it became very evident that she knows in the very depth of her soul that the women in their drug recovery program are created in the image of God. She knows no matter how buried that truth may be in each of the women she encounters that, in time, she will begin to see some of the ways that these women reflect the glory of God. Barbara loved talking about the women and the beauty she begins to see as she and other members of her staff dig into and help pull back layers of darkness that have almost suffocated the lives of these women.

But, Barbara was also quick to share that her perspective, the way she sees the women in their program, hasn’t always been what it is today. She talked about how blessed she is to work where she works and laughed at how long she resisted the idea of working with homeless women. She said all she used to be able to see was how deep and overwhelming and complex homeless women’s struggles were. But, her perspective changed as she got to know some of the women and saw their growth and the beauty that began to seep and then pour out of them. Barbara says she is blessed because these women have helped to change her, and today Barbara has different eyes. She walks beside women who have just entered the program with eyes of faith, knowing that despite what the women believe about themselves, the truth is that these women bear the very mark of our Creator, and because of that, they are beautiful.

So, what will I see? I hope that in time I will see people more like Barbara does.