Am I blind?

Friends in Faith:

I am always amazed when I realize that someone whom I know has no sight can tell exactly where I am or even who I am in a room where they are not familiar. They make me wonder what there is that I am missing, that I cannot see.

Two old sayings come into mind as I think of my blindness: “stepping over a dime to pick up a nickel” and “stop and smell the roses.”

Now, you may be thinking these two sayings have nothing to do with each other—but they really do—they can both refer to our “blindness” in the way we approach our daily lives and the people we meet.

In the one we are “seeing” the easy way to get something we want and yet we are missing God’s way which society makes seem too difficult—we are blind to God’s presence in our lives.

And in the second we are missing the sheer beauty, the profound truths, that God is putting in front of us each day. I am referring to the simplest, tiniest (or maybe most important) people or person in our lives that society instead wants us to “see” as too needy, too changeable, or too time consuming.

Things like caring for the unborn and orphans; stopping to give a hand to someone elderly, or offering them our seat in a crowded room; or lending a kind, caring, loving ear to our spouse, child or friend, when they seem to be angry, but are really just testing the unconditional love we have professed.

How often have I “been blind,” only to later “see” my error in judgment? How often have I not defended the “right to life,” spoken unkindly about my spouse or avoided someone who needed my help?

“One thing I do know is that I was blind and now I see.” ….“Then Jesus said, “I came into this world for judgment, so that those who do not see might see, and those who do see might become blind.” Jn 9:1-41 or 9:1, 6-9, 13-17, 34-38

How often have I waited for someone else to do what my heart told me to do and then was a little envious because someone else received the smiling “thank you?”

“Unless you people see signs and wonders, you will not believe.” Jn 4:43-54

How often have I judged by appearance, only to find out that someone who had immense knowledge and experience was within arms reach and yet I had avoided them because they “looked” a little different?

“Not as man sees does God see, because man sees the appearance but the LORD looks into the heart.” 1 Sm 16:1b, 6-7, 10-13a

Heavenly Father: I will praise you, Lord, for you have rescued me. Ps 30:2 Open my eyes, my ears and my heart so that I may not be blind to Your presence in my life. Help me to smell the roses. Help me to “see” those who need a caring hand, a loving look and a kind word. Thank you for the amazing gifts you put in my life each day, a husband who leads, children and parents to love, and friends who care. Help me to not take them for granted and to give them back to you in the same spirit that you have given them to me. Amen.

May you all be blessed with the gift of Christ’s light and an open “seeing” heart,
Charlotte