Remember those Magic Eye posters that were popular in the 1990s? Gaze with relaxed eyes at one of these chaotic patterns — technically called autostereograms — and a 3D image is ​“magically” revealed. 

At least, that’s what I’m told. 

I tried again today to see one and only succeeded in making myself slightly nauseous.

Sometimes spiritual practices can feel this way, especially one with a name like visio divina. (That’s Latin for ​“divine vision.” The italics tell you it’s special.)

I’ve been invited before into this practice by those skilled in it… Look prayerfully at this icon, this artwork. Don’t you see it? Sometimes I do; it’s a holy moment. Sometimes I don’t; it’s a Magic Eye moment.

Now, this is the Renovaré email list, so you may be someone quite experienced with letting God speak to you through visual means. 

But perhaps you’re a novice like me. On the podcast this week, Viv David helps make the practice of visio divina accessible by offering practical ways to pray with our eyes.

Artwork is just one way to pray visually. A less obvious but potentially more accessible way is through nature. 

In fact, possibly the best-known invitation to visio divina comes from Jesus when he says, ​“Consider the lilies.” 

Ponder these flowers, Jesus is saying. Look, and let your looking become listening. The Father is speaking through the natural world, saying things about who he is. Things like…

I love beauty.

I’m not stingy.

I’ve got more than enough.

You’re worth more than anything I’ve made. I’ve got the flowers. I’ve got the birds. I’ve got you, too.

So if you want a place to start with visual prayer, take a slow walk in nature. Ask God to teach you through the steady trust of the naked oak and the song of the swallow who stayed north for the winter.

It’s worth noting that the kind of prayer we’re talking about here isn’t just for those with healthy physical eyes. ​“Divine vision” is about learning to see with our hearts. 

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened,” the Apostle Paul wrote.

Then he lists things for us to see: hope, inheritance, power. These things are always there, always available, but we need enlightened hearts to see them.

Sometimes the means of enlightening comes through suffering.

Katelyn Dixon wrote this week about how even the shameful parts of our own stories can become a frame to focus our attention on what God is inviting us to see.

And what he wants us to see isn’t how badly we’ve failed — that much is clear — but to look more deeply.

And then it comes into focus… The three-dimensional contours of the cross, the pattern of redemption in our lives. It was there all along, we just needed to linger with God to see it.