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Last week I was chatting with my brother-in-law in Texas and I got distracted looking at the abstract shapes in the sides of the large glass blocks that held up the shelves in his bookcase next to where we were standing. I had to completely interrupt our conversation to snap a cell phone photo of it. They were like little contemporary paintings that were profound and slightly different when you moved one way or another.

It doesn’t take much to make me digress into play! In the photo below, we introduced a red stick to see how that changed the image. Seeing ready made abstract vignettes around me everywhere I look is common for me, and it is why I am so engaged with making abstract art. It is not so far from realism on this plane of existence as people think.

I thought later about the Bible verse from 1 Corinthians 13:12 KJV: “For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known.”

As we head into this holiday weekend full of Christian import– and anytime!– it is helpful to remember that in this earthly experience we are not seeing the facts (in this case the books in the bookcase straight on) but from a perspective with a distorted filter that will change from where we stand and the light by which we see it. I hope we can remember this and extend latitude to others who may not see things just as we do.

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