How a Temporary Sign Makes a Permanent Impression

November 26, 2009

 

Last summer I saw a large sign on wheels with a message that caught my attention. Displayed on the lawn in front of my grandparents’ church, the sign stated, “You may have a heart of gold but so does a boiled egg.”

Reading the sign several times while sitting in my car, I noticed another sign in the background. It was a permanent sign made of cement, which was quite the opposite of the sign on wheels.

The temporary sign displayed a message which could be changed merely by moving the letters or changing the words. Information on the permanent sign was static. Intrigued by the two different messages, I stared at the message on the temporary sign rather than the permanent sign.

When I stepped back to photograph the temporary sign, the permanent sign looked like a rectangular shaped Lego kids’ toy with information for adults. I guess the information on the temporary sign was for kids because that is what caught my attention. After taking three or four photographs of the two signs, I drove away. It has been over four months since I first saw that sign but after reflecting on the temporary message, I finally understood the meaning, which made a permanent impression in my mind.

Just one month later while attending a convention in July, I walked through a maze of hallways looking for a workshop I wanted to attend. My eyes stopped when I saw an abbreviated Bible verse displayed in large black letters on a rather large wall in the Wellness Center of the university. It was a bright day with lots of sunshine, so the ten words were easy to read. “…be strong in the Lord and in his mighty power. ” (Ephesians 6:10)

The wall appeared to be constructed of cement blocks connected with deep lines, similar to the latitude and longitude grids of the earth. Reaching for the camera in my pocketbook, I centered the words in the screen of my digital camera and pressed the button for only one picture.

A few weeks later when writing a thank you note, the idea struck me that the picture of the message on that wall would make a great illustration to accompany my handwritten note. Although the 4″x6″ picture was larger than the envelope for my thank you note, I was determined to remedy the obstacle. I stopped at a store with an instant photo kiosk to reduce the size of the 4″x6″ picture to a wallet size.

As I looked at the reduced picture, I saw a contrast that I had not seen when I originally took it. The closer I looked, the more I realized the difference. The portion of the wall with the Bible verse and reference was strikingly light while the lower portion of the wall was dark like a dense fog at night. I gasped when I remembered that the darkness was not distinguishable on the wall when I took the picture.

Recently, I remember seeing a picture in the newspaper that showed a dog watching television. Even though I don’t remember the product advertised, I do remember the sub-title. “It is not what you are looking at… it is what you see…”

A Malian proverb states, “Those who accomplish great things pay attention to little ones.” Learning to look for extraordinary things in ordinary moments is my focus now. When I take a deep breath and slow down, I am able to appreciate what I had been too preoccupied to see.

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