A couple of months ago I sat in the front row for the Cirque de Soleil show, Mystere.

We were close.  When the stage sunk, I was close enough to see the blue and green birds and monkeys hop away into the belly of the theater.

I was close enough to see all the detail on the feathered costumes.  I so far up in front that I could see the trapeze above my head and hear the whirr of the cables through the air.

Close enough that the in-your-face French styled performers stared into my eyes once or twice (Would the man-sized parrot peck at my feet?) and so close that I was worried I might be called up on stage like others in my same row had.

I had the best seats in the house where everything was in brilliant, glimmering detail.  I could see everything, and hear even hear the performers’ bare feet as they padded across the stage.

And I was amazed.

The past couple of weeks for me have been full of the same kind of mind-blowing experiences (minus the yellow feathers and glitter makeup).

I’ve felt like I’ve been sitting in the front row, exposed in all vulnerability to watch God working in my own life and in the lives of others.  And He’s shown it all to me in explosive, bright detail.

And I wonder, has God done anything different in the past couple weeks than He always has done?  Or has He been working overtime lately?

I think He’s always been this way, it’s just that I’ve been expecting to see it lately.  He’s proven Himself faithful and I’ve been watching.  He’s shown me not only what He CAN do but what He DOES do.  And now I’ve been expecting it.

[I'm not sure if I was a cynic before or if I was just disappointed in myself.  Or maybe I was just looking in the wrong place...]

As soon as I began to watch for Him, I saw Him.

And then He was everywhere:  in my girls, in a phone call, in that email, even in that harsh word.  There He was.

It was as if I’d been sitting in the front row this whole time, but with earplugs shoved in my ears and a blindfold tightly around my eyes.

How cruel.

But I did it to myself.

I’d been front row to brilliance and blaze and the glow of what He can do and I’d been playing with my phone and checking email.

But now I’m watching. And expecting.  And I feel like I can see what God is doing.  I’m excited to see what is coming next.

Have you been watching for God?  What have you seen?