Our house is full of things that we have collected over nearly 50 years of life together.  We have mementos from mission trips, souvenirs from family travels and pieces of furniture that have been in our families for several generations.  I know Marie Kondo says you ought to get rid of everything that doesn’t “spark joy” but right now everything still gives us joy so we are keeping it.

One of my favorite things is the tile with the eyes that resides on the top shelf in our living room.  The tile was created in the Fernando Llort studio in El Salvador to sit over the doorway to the Metropolitan Cathedral in San Salvador. While installing the tile, a section broke and it was returned to the studio so a replacement could be made.  The manager of the studio gave it to us as a gift.

There are times the eyes make me feel a little nervous – like Big Brother is watching over us.  Mostly though, the eyes are comforting, serving as a reminder that God is the One watching over us, ready to protect us and to come to our aid.

The Bible tells us that Jesus sent his disciples across the Sea of Galilee while he went up the mountain to pray.  After the disciples spent hours of rowing and getting nowhere, scripture says, “Jesus saw the disciples straining at the oars, because the wind was against them.  Shortly before dawn he went out to them.”  (Mark 6:48)  While the disciples were feeling forgotten and abandoned, Jesus was watching them, waiting for the right moment to come to their rescue.

I love the passage in 2 Chronicles 16:9 that says, “For the eyes of the Lord search throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him.”  God is always looking at us, not to catch us doing something wrong but to help us when we are doing something right.

I once knew a guy who liked to “impress” girls by taking out his glass eye, touching them with it and saying, “I’ve got my eye on you!”

God really does have His eye on you.  Both of them.

By Dr. Jim Baldwin