You need this rhythm
by Jacques Skillie Botha Oh how we love to walk past amazing things and then go on to moan about stupid things, or tend only to see the corruption and bad driving on the roads, etc. We tend to focus so much on the big picture that we miss all the small things of every day life. As a photographer, I love the app Instagram — it helps me to see the world around me & how everyone else see the small things through their eyes. It gets me into the rhythm of seeing the extraordinary in the ordinary. It also helps me to pause from the ‘race’ rhythm we created and that we now find ourselves stuck in so often. It’s very necessary to pause and see the beauty around you. It will refresh your eyes and your mind. It’s truly a great rhythm that I’ve developed for myself and it helps me to appreciate life and everything about life. It’s interesting that when we look at Jesus and the way he operated and functioned, was that He made time for the small things. Jesus saw the beauty and potential in ordinary things and ordinary people. From the beginning of His life, you can see the thread of ‘small things’ going through everything — born in a manger; He brings the gospel to the lowly not the mighty; some of the first people He brought the Good News to, was the shepherds (not the most fancy/legitimate job one could have in those times); He came from a smaller town in Israel; He chose fishermen as his first disciples, not the high & mighty, religious pharisees; and he showed His miracles to the lowest of the society (people others normally ignore or walk away from). There’s loads and loads of examples like this in the Story of the life of Jesus, but you get the point. Why do we rush through life? Why can’t we see the smallest detail on flowers or leaves anymore? Why have we lost the beauty of exploration like a child? I believe it’s like any other kind of training. We need to train our minds to see the small things — and just like running on a regular basis gets you fit in the long run, seeing the small things every day, will help you make better sense of the bigger picture. We tend to miss the small things, because we came to believe that it’s a waste of time, but God deliberately chooses the foolish things of this world to fool the so-called wise men and women on this earth. He chose ordinary people with ordinary stories to use in telling the most awesome story of all. I’m pretty sure Jesus stopped a lot on the way to Jerusalem to look at the scenery and just be in awe of His Father’s handiwork. It helps me to understand how much God must love us. If he spent so much time putting in effort to create small details in nature, how much effort did He put into us? And how much must He love us? Once you’re in the rhythm of seeing pictures and stories in every little detail, it’ll feel like you have an extra pair of lungs to breathe with. This will also help us to pay attention to the small things in our relationships with everyone in our lives — after all, it’s the small things that’ll make or break a relationship at the end of the day, and isn’t awesome relationships what life is all about? Train your mind to see. It’s really simple — just open your eyes.