Slowing Down To Notice

Something powerful takes place when we learn to be fully present physically, mentally, relationally, and spiritually. Noticing brings us into the present and demands that we move slower and engage each moment more thoughtfully and intentionally. Is it too much to suggest that worshiping created things rather than the Creator is to have an entire world of people looking down instead of looking up, fixated on small screens, shares, likes, and finger swipes? What are we doing? These shadows are not what we were made to see.

Can we really claim to walk in the light if we continue to notice only what we learned to see in the dark?

One time when my family and I visited Disney World, I asked them to slow down and take a moment to notice what was around them. We pointed out all the things we saw that were good. There were many! It was Disney World, after all. We paused a while longer to look for the broken, and there it was. In the happiest place on earth!

My kids noticed some trash on the ground that was rather out of place for the usually pristine environment. They also noticed the noise level. It was wildly loud. We noticed a young boy in a wheelchair. His limbs were twisted and his expression vacant. When my kids first noticed him, they didn’t see anything broken. To them, he was just like any other person enjoying the happiest place on earth. I found their acceptance delightful. But at the same time, it allowed us to have a conversation about what it might be like when all things are made whole, when that young boy could run freely at their side. We noticed the broken commingled with the good, and we looked to the future.

My wife and I are learning to live with Vision Out each day as we help our kids develop a habit of noticing. Together we are learning to travel through our days with curiosity and wonder, looking for the good, the broken, and the future. This habit lifts our heads and opens the door to new connections, unexpected delights, honest tears, new relationships, critical thinking, and good conversation. Life to the full means noticing the commingled reality of this wonderful, complex, confusing, challenging, beautiful, tragic and exhilarating human experience.

Live slow.

Look again and again.

Author: Zach Elliott

Zach Elliott describes himself as an ordinary man who loves Jesus. Anyone who knows Zach Elliott would describe him as far from ordinary. Zach began his career with Oregon State Police as a Forensic Evidence Technician, then served as a church planter and a pastor before launching V3, a ministry committed to sharing the Gospel and loving the Church. He is a husband, father, speaker, author, and thought leader, engaging the world with a powerful message of hope and restoration in Christ. He has a contagious love of life, finds beauty in the most unlikely places, and loves people with an uncommon depth of respect and honor.

This excerpt is quoted from Zach’s book, Now I See.