The colors that we see are actually reflections; that is, our eyes perceive the light that bounces back to us from whatever we are looking at. Not all the light is reflected back to our eye; some is absorbed. The colors we perceive are, in actuality, precisely what they aren’t: they are the light that is reflected away.
During a summer making art and talking with residents of Phoebe Ministries, which serves people with dementia, I reflected on color and vision, perception and its limitations.
Sometimes, as we see people growing older, we see them losing qualities and characteristics that we have loved. We may see them as shadows of their former selves. But Paul in 1 Corinthians 13:12 reminds us that we are fully known by God, even as we struggle to know ourselves and each other. We see through a mirror dimly now, Paul writes, but when we enter life eternal, we will come to know each other as we are fully known by God.
This message is excerpted from “Learning to see God’s beloved” by Mary Button in the October 2019 Cafe online magazine. Today we commemorate Simon and Jude, Apostles.
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