More than Meets the Eye

You know the overused saying, "Don't judge a book by it's cover"? I've always wondered about it. I've never really judged a book by its cover per se -- it was the titles that always got me.

(You know the world's social handicap is increasing in severity when you see books like that on the shelves! This book's written by the Australian bestselling author, Andrew Matthews, by the way. It's supposed to be good -- don't get me wrong. *chuckles*)

But I shouldn't distract myself.

I was just wondering how so easily one can assume something of the other without really knowing for sure. More often than not, our characters are summed up with one singular action. It seems absurd to you now that a single act could dictate and determine who you were, are and will become. But most of us do it, without really knowing why.

Recently, I read one of my friend's testimonies on a church newsletter. She spoke of her little sister whom, at quick glance, seemed obese and shared of how quickly people tend to judge her based on her size. In true fact, her little sister had gone through a series of health problems that eventually led to her current state. I immediately could relate.

Let me introduce you to one of my heroes.

This is Phanuel.

He's my little brother. And he's autistic.

At first glance, one might think he is an obese, unruly and unsociable boy. He would just be another kid with a mental handicap. But if they'd just try to get to know him better, they'd realize how wonderful he truly is.

Autism is basically a condition where there is a severe lack in neurons/brain cells or an extreme abundance of it. It distorts, or rather, in more correct terms, changes his/her perspective of things. Based on my own observations, here's a theory:

When we see this:

He sees this:

...or perhaps even more.

An autistic child could just get lost or excited with a simple diagram. While it may seem like a dead doodle to our own eyes, but to them, it's probably as exciting as going to the zoo for the first time and gaping down a lion's throat.

We've taught Phanuel to read and it takes so much of his time, patience, and effort to sit still and gather his thoughts to read just one word at a time. There was this one time when I was tutoring Phanuel; I just placed a book in front of him and said, "Read." He stared at the book -- the pictures, the words. But he stayed silent. I nudged him gently and said, "Go on. Read." And i will never forget the incredulous look he gave me when i said that.

It was almost like he was saying: "What in the supermarket did you think I was doing then? Sky-diving?"

Sometimes, he gets so frustated whilst reading that he throws tantrums. But it's only because we have to force him to do something our way. We "normal" human beings tend to get so alarmed when another is not able to respond, act, or communicate the same way we do. And so we teach them our ways, so that they can become us.

What an achievement.

His first word was "Dinosaur"

My little brother started out alright. When he was two, he suffered a horrible bout of fever and then, he never was the same. Can you imagine watching your brother singing and speaking little words, only to go back to silence? He could no longer maintain proper eye contact, and did not respond to his name. It was heartbreaking.

Phanuel had always loved dinosaurs. "Walking with Dinosaurs" was then a famous BBC documentary. Phanuel was seven and had watched every episode just once. And while he still couldn't speak and couldn't relate to the world as we knew it, he typed out and made a whole PowerPoint presentation of what he could remember of the documentary. Yes, PowerPoint. How'd he learn that? From behind my shoulder.

And people fret that they're not like us.

There is really more than meets the eye. There is more to a person than what they do or did, than how they look like. We know this in theory, but yet we're still guilty of premature judgement. I know I am.

I was reading I Samuel 16, the infamous account of how young David was anointed as king.

vs 7: But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or his physical stature, because I have refused Him. For the Lord does not see as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart."

Samuel had looked at outward stature but God had not chosen any of David's bigger, and well-built brothers. This is a verse that I'd read many times before. But this time, I had a question. "Why do we, more often than not, assume so much when we know so little?" And then it hit me.

The Lord doesn't see as man sees.

It is very human of us to depend on the physical, because it is unnatural (or rather, supernatural) for us to look past the faults and deficiencies. It is Christ-like to look at the heart. What this means is that without God, it is going to be pretty hard to go against your human nature to steal a peek at someone else's heart. What we need is to see what God sees. What we need is...

A periscope.

Wiki says that a periscope may be used "for seeing over people's heads in a crowd". I thought the concept simple yet profound. Sometimes all we see are people, being in the crowd ourselves - and this limits our view and eventually suffocates thought.

When our thoughts are stunted due to the lack in visual input from God, we settle down and begin to develop our common mindsets from the little that we see. The kind of mindsets that are usually hard to break free from.

That's why we need a GodPeriscope! So, we can see above the crowd. We'll get a bit of the Godview of things. Life would take a different turn for many.

You know, many times i've just sat and watched Phanuel doing his puzzles, watching his favorite cartoon, and whatever else. He would be so focused whilst doing it, and for a brief moment, he seemed okay...normal. And i wonder What IF. What if he was born a normal boy, what potential he'd have, what fun he'd be. My heart would just be overwhelmed with this sudden sadness. But then i realized, he wasn't complaining.

He knew how to express himself. When he was angry, he threw tantrums; when he was sad, he cried; and when he was happy, he'd laugh. He didn't care what others would think of him, how different he would seem.... he was just happy with himself.

And sometimes, I wonder why it takes so much for us to be happy with ourselves. What we should be focusing on would be doing what God intended us to do; delighting in Him, being a joy and loving Him, completing the good stuff He started in us. But we tend to focus on the wrong things most of the time. We choose to see the huge boulder in our pathway, instead of the glorious destination we're heading towards. We pursue selfish priorities, materialistic desires.

It's no wonder the Lord doesn't see as man sees.

"Say God, can i get one of those?" *points at a periscope on a shelf*