Some people are more observant than others, so it isn’t right that everyone should have to meet the same standards.  It’s fine for an observant person to notice that his wife had her hair cut, but there should be a grace period and hints given to the person who is not as observant.

I’m all for equality in certain circumstances.  We all should observe our surroundings and know where others are and what they’re doing, so we don’t bump into them.  But having to notice something without a comparison is completely unfair to an observant-impaired person.

It’s like playing that concentration game where you pick up a card and then have to remember where the matching card is on the board.  An observant person wins at that game and we commend them.  We don’t get upset at the one who loses; we just feel sorry for the poor sap.

I had been away for a couple of days on a trip and when I got home, my wife Lily looked just as lovely as she did when I left.  It wasn’t until the next morning, after she had fixed her hair for the day, that she said to me, “You didn’t notice that I had my hair cut.”

In a split second, I recalled how bad a concentration player I was.  I had flashbacks of me turning up the wrong cards.  It’s not fair.  It wasn’t like Lily got a new hair style – it was the exact same hair style only a little shorter!

I told her that I thought her hair looked great, but it didn’t seem to make much difference because I hadn’t noticed on my own.  Maybe I need to get a deck of concentration cards and practice … or, maybe there’s an app for that.

When kids are little, we try to get them to distinguish between things that are different. On Sesame Street, kids learn “one of these things is not like the other…”  But in this case, Lily’s hair looked the same.

Now, Lily is a teacher at heart.  So I think she wanted to help me out, give me another try.  Well, at least I think that’s what she was trying to do when she said “come and look in the pantry and tell me if you notice anything different there.”

The problem was, she didn’t give me any more clues than that!  When I go to the pantry there are only two shelves I look at – they’re the ones that have the snack food on them that I would be interested in eating.

Suddenly, I was looking at items on shelves I didn’t know we had in the pantry!  “It could be anything”, I thought.  So I just said, “Wow!  This looks fantastic.  You’ve done a lovely job.”  Somehow she saw right through that, and gave me another failing grade.

I think non-observants should be marked on the curve.  We should be held to a lower standard.  But, in reality it’s not going to happen, so I just better try to be more observant.

Here’s the thing: I might not notice when God wants to show me something, and I could  use the excuse, “I’m not that observant.”  But, I’m the one who misses out.  What I need to do is pay more attention to God so I notice what He wants me to see.

That’s life!

Paul

Question: How do you keep yourself observant to what God wants to show you? Leave your comment below.