With the Eyes of a Dove

"You are my hiding place; You protect me from trouble, You surround me with joyful shouts of deliverance."(Psalm 32:7) Sometimes I need a hiding place, a place my heart can go when life overwhelms me. This is when I lift my eyes to the One who truly sees me and has promised that with his eyes on me he will give me counsel.

These are the eyes that range throughout the earth to show himself strong for those whose hearts are completely his. His eyes have sought me and found me and my eyes are locked on his eyes. Even though a storm is raging all around me knowing that I have a God who really sees me allows me to experience a peace that I cannot explain because I don't really understand it.

"How beautiful you are, my darling. How beautiful! Your eyes are like doves."(Song of Songs 1:15) Because doves have binocular vision they can only focus on one thing at a time. The One in whom I have chosen to place my trust is also the One on whom I have fixed my gaze. A dove is also a symbol of peace. I have found peace within, regardless of my circumstances, when I keep my eyes on Jesus. He is both the source and the perfecter my peace.

Sometimes I find myself hiding in the clefts of the rock and in the crevices of the cliff waiting for the threatening storms to pass. The storms make me aware of my vulnerability. I am hiding from the things I fear but I am found by the One who looks after me. I look into his eyes and I hear the reassuring voice of the One who loves me calling to me. "Arise, my darling. Come away, my beautiful one. For now the winter is past ; the rain has ended and gone away."(Song of Songs 2:10)

When I was a young girl I used to pray that when God looked on me that he would smile. Now I think that it is a wonder beyond all wonders that God would look on me at all. Yet I have discovered what makes him smile. I have discovered what makes me precious in his eyes. When my spirit is gentled and quieted within me in the midst difficulties of life, when I have found in him my hiding place, a place of refuge where I look on him with the fixed and trusting gaze of a dove. This, this makes him smile.