Hearts

…for the LORD seeth not as man seeth; for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.  I Samuel 16:7

I thought surely Eric Carle had lost his mind. Here was a book titled Hello, Red Fox with a green fox on the cover, all written and illustrated by Eric Carle. When I turned to the first page I saw a giant red heart with a tiny black dot. There was a caption at the bottom labeled Important. I thought I should read it. The instructions said stare at the black dot and count to 10 then look at the black dot on the next page. Okay, so I tried it. A faint green image of the heart appeared on the opposite white page. Then the story of a little green frog’s birthday party began. Each animal invited was not the color it appeared if you took the time to stare 10 seconds at the black dot on the animal then, look at the opposite white page. I thought, this is really cool, Eric. Maybe you are on to something!

Life is a lot like Eric Carle’s story. We think we see people. They make a first impression. How often we look at people and make a judgment based on what they appear to be; happy, kind, sad, mean, tough, etc. without taking the time to look a little deeper. We don’t know the real person on first glance. Jesus took the time to see the real person. He had compassion on the people even when they were cruel and unloving. He healed the untouchable lepers. He  brought the message of salvation to the Samaritan woman. He healed the crippled hand on the Sabbath, though it was "against the law". Jesus put others first. He cared about people.

Father, help me to look at the heart as you do and not the outward appearance. Help me to demonstrate a caring, compassionate spirit. Lord, show me how to make a difference in the hearts and lives of others. In Jesus name. Amen.