I went to an awesome exhibit last week at The Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington DC. It was a collection of art that had been amassed by two Welsh sisters.
The exhibit was called "From Turner to Cezanne" and it had a number of my favorites in it, especially the impressionists. But what struck me most was reading the descriptions of the works. Several of them had something like "infrared photography shows that originally there was a third figure" or "infrared analysis suggests that perhaps the man in the background was later painted in". Infrared technology (photography, radiation, etc) is also often used to discover what is called "underdrawings". These are usually the original sketches that later became the work of art.
I got to thinking about how in our dealings with other people, we don't have the benefit of infrared photography. Mostly, that's a good thing, as we all stand and fall before our own master. But it also made me think about how someone may have a hidden sorrow or mistake or regret or maybe great joy that was taken away by some tragedy or betrayal. We can't see what used to be there. We can't know what they've painted over and present themselves as. We don't know what underdrawings were the start of their greatness. Our kindness may be the thing that reveals not the original picture, but the beauty of what's there now.
You never know what someone is going through or has been through. Give them a break. Be their friend. Smile. Pray for them. Think about all the things that go into making up a person at any stage of their life. You don't need an infrared camera, just a heart of compassion, which God will freely give you if you ask.