My husband says he loves the colour of my eyes.  But when we were first dating, to look him directly in the eyes for anything but the briefest moment was the hardest thing in the world.  He would challenge me to staring competitions.  I would always lose, breaking away in embarassed laughter after only a few seconds.

There is something about direct eye contact which makes us retreat, perhaps even more so for us introverts.  We might hide things during a face-to-face conversation, but somehow our secret thoughts just spill out into the conversations that happen while driving down a highway, in a darkened tent on a camping trip, or even in online messaging.  Maybe we are a little like the child who thinks she can hide by covering her eyes with her hands - "If I can't see you, you must not be able to see me."  It seems we feel a little safer when the people we are talking to can't see the fear marked on our faces, or the tears in our eyes.

Our Lord wins hands down at staring competitions.  Psalm 121 tells us that, "he who watches over you will not slumber; indeed, he who watches over Israel will neither slumber nor sleep... he will watch over your life: the LORD will watch over your coming and going both now and forevermore."  His eyes are always on us.  He overwhelms us with his attention.

It was a journey of love and trust as I learnt to match my then future-husband in staring competitions, and then learnt to look him in the eye as I started to share the deepest parts of my heart with him.  Our Lord, like my husband, watches us patiently and waits for us to return his constant gaze.  As we learn to look at him with open hearts, we find there is no fear in being seen.  He looks at us in love, and as we gaze upon his beauty, perhaps he finds delight in the particular colour of our eyes.

Psalm 27:1,4

 1 The LORD is my light and my salvation—
       whom shall I fear?
       The LORD is the stronghold of my life—
       of whom shall I be afraid?

 4 One thing I ask of the LORD,
       this is what I seek:
       that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
       all the days of my life,
       to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
       and to seek him in his temple.