Perception

I was reading through Samuel Taylor Coleridge's poem, "This Lime-Tree Bower My Prison" this afternoon, and a couple of the lines which always seem to catch my eye did so again:

"Well employ / Each faculty of sense, and keep the heart / Awake to love and beauty!"

These are perhaps some of my favorite lines written by Coleridge. For the Romantic poets, perception is one of the predominant themes throughout their poetry and prose. I think that William Blake, another of the Romantics, provides the best description of the power of perception when he writes in a letter: "As a man is, so he sees; as the eye is formed, such are its powers." Now, I could go off on a whole philosophical thread about society and its blurred perception of love and beauty. I've been thinking about this alot. It was in that context that I was thinking about these lines. But I won't. Except to say this -- that it is only when I abide in Christ that my perspective aligns with Truth. In the Kingdom of God, perception is key. Keeping each "faculty of sense" and my heart engaged with the Word of God purifies my faculty of perception. I want my heart to be "awake" to Him, and allow Him to transform my perception and understanding of that which is truly Lovely and that which is Beautiful -- seeing Jesus Himself.