Noticing

I spent this past weekend with old friends at one of their homes in the Shenandoah Mountains. We have known each other since divinity school, so our time together flows easily. On our second night, one friend mentioned to the other that she’d noticed how he seems much more confident and at ease in this season of life. I watched my friend’s face light up as he was complimented on his renewed confidence. He went on to explain how he feels more confident, and wondered aloud about what’s changed.

As I watched this interaction unfold, I realized how much of a gift it is to notice. We are all changing–even if ever so slightly–in ways that materialize both subtly and quickly. We can give the people in our lives the beautiful gift of noticing and embracing moments of growth that they can’t see for themselves. All people have a longing to be noticed and acknowledged from a place of love and care. When we notice the shifts in those we love we embrace them for who they are, call them into who they are becoming, and we, in turn, get the delight of learning a new dimension of the person whom we love.

The Gospels are filled with stories of Jesus noticing people. The fifth chapter of the Gospel of John (John 5:1-17) recounts a story where Jesus was walking and saw a man waiting outside the pool of Bethesda–a place where people would go to dip in the healing waters–who had been ill for thirty-eight years. The man shared that he had no friends to help him into the pool, and that he was frequently pushed out of the way by others. Jesus noticed him, heard his story, and healed him.

It is clear that Christ calls us to notice the world around us: from noticing the simple and profound changes afoot in the lives of our friends, to the suffering and injustice in the world. To live like Christ requires us to hone our ability to notice. We give gifts to the people we love, and strangers alike, when we choose to notice them and share what we see.

What (or who) are you noticing?

Text copyright © 2023 Grace Woodward. All rights reserved.