In the novel, The Giver by Lois Lowry, one young boy named Jonas can see color in a world of people who can only see in black and white. He is isolated and lonely, stuck in a situation in which he is unable to share his gift of vision with those in his life. Much of the time, I feel like Jonas.

Often, it seems as if I am stuck trying to communicate to others what red looks like when all they can see is another shade of dull grey. I often wonder, what is it that keeps people from seeing the colors around them? Is it laziness? Fear? Are they just permanently incapable of seeing more than they already see?

It can be so difficult at times, to see beauty where others only see boredom, to feel passion where so many seem resigned to passivity. I long to strive towards a life of intensity, but it seems like most are content to live lives of indifference.

In The Giver, the other people in Jonas’ life were incapable of seeing color. Through a combination of desire, fear, and genetic engineering, it was simply impossible for anyone else to see more than they did. Is it similar in this world? Is seeing the world well a unique gift? Is it something that only certain people can do? If so, it would seem like those who can see are doomed to lives of isolation.

My suspicion is that in reality seeing well is both a unique gift and an acquired skill. There are certainly people who can see better than most. The greatest art, whether it be novels, paintings, films, poetry, song or whatever else, is the result of people who see some aspect of the world clearly and can articulate that vision in a unique way. Their vision is a special gift. Yet, when the rest of us are willing to encounter that vision with an open mind we can learn to see in new ways ourselves.

In my life, especially in my time so far at MHGS , I am surrounded by people who have learned to see in color. Some see colors I have enjoyed and cherished myself for a long time, while others see colors I had never imagined before these remarkable people taught me how to start seeing them for myself.

Each of us, when we see something which strikes us as meaningful or beautiful, should share that vision. It can certainly be painful when others refuse to listen, when the people we attempt to share with stubbornly insist that the world is devoid of color, or perhaps only painted with colors already familiar and comfortable. Yet, this pain cannot keep us from trying to offer the world a glimpse of how we see, and hopefully, to do so with grace and humility, understanding how difficult it can be to learn to see in new ways.

Somehow, blogging is one outlet I have discovered for offering others the colors I see all around me. It is a way I can share the way I see things, hoping to offer the gift beauty gives to me as a shared gift for others to appreciate. My hope is that people might be blessed by the things I see, but that they also might learn to see in new ways through what I write. I also hope they might respond, thus offering how they see things to me so that I might learn to see in new ways myself. It’s part of the beautiful mystery that somehow, imagination and clarity of vision multiply exponentially when they are shared with the imagination and vision of others.

Scott Small is a second-year MDiv student at MHGS. He blogs regularly at Gloaming and Dawn as well as The Other Journal . Scott loves to have deep conversations about movies and culture and their impact on the church.