Eyes to See

The other day, as our little family drove to church, I noticed again the beauties of the blooming and flowering trees. 

At a stop-light at the bottom of our hill, there are many such trees, and I have always enjoyed driving that stretch in the Spring. 

Sunday happened to be a particularly beautiful day.  The sky was a lovely shade of blue, and those pale pink flowers just stood out against the sky.  And I told my husband I wished I had brought my camera with me.

Apparently he'd recently had a conversation about exposures and such with a friend of ours who is a professional videographer.  And apparently, for pictures such as I was thinking of, a photographer will often take two pictures to change the exposure and then blend them together as one.  By so doing, the sky and the flowers will both pop, whereas under normal circumstances, one would lose the awesomeness in the picture. 

Don't know if that makes sense -- and I'm certainly not using real photographer terminology, because I"m not a real photographer!  But I understood what my husband was saying, and so I told him, "It's amazing what our eyes can do...  We can capture all the beauty at once, but a camera -- no matter how sophisticated -- really can't.  It takes a little doctoring.

And I've seen that many times.  Many times I've tried to capture a beautiful rainbow or a lovely sunset.  My eyes marvel at the sight of what I'm seeing, and yet I can never get a picture which does the view justice.  Not that I am some spectacular picture-taker... I'm not.  I'm more of the point-and-shoot variety.  But nonetheless, I have been amazed at the detail and beauty my eye can take in, but my camera simply can't seem to capture.

What a miracle.  What a marvel!

My eyes aren't perfect.  I have worn glasses and/or contacts since 3rd grade.  But I can see, even if not clearly sans assistance.  I know there are many who either have not been blessed with the opportunity to see in this life -- and many others who once had the ability and lost it for some reason or another.  It is hard to imagine not being able to see. 

Of course, I know those who cannot see have amazing abilities in their other sense.  We had a blind cat who was born without eyes (they never developed).  And that cat was amazing in her ability to do lots of things -- like walk unobstructed through the house... or let you know when there was a gnat or something flitting about.  I can only assume the same is true for humans -- that their other senses become magnified that much more. 

But I am grateful I do have eyes that see.  Whether it's for enjoying the beauties of the outdoors, reading a book, watching a movie, marveling at my baby girl, driving a car, or writing this blog...  My eyes serve me immensely on a daily basis.  They have helped me store away images in my mind that make me smile.  And I'm grateful for this blessing of eyes that see.

What are you grateful for today?