It is our vision that often
prevents our eyes from seeing....

M. Russell 2006

The ideals, traditions and fears we hold dear tend to determine how we see the world and our fellow man. These are typically so strong that we become blind to any other possibility. How do you describe a tree or airplane to a person who has never seen one before? Certainly no exception to this predicument, I struggle to always remember that one key phrase..."maybe not," in spite of my disposition of assuming that I am generally right about whatever. I sit at my window, staring out at the world beyond my glass. I watch the people walking by in the brisk wind on their way somewhere and nowhere. I watch the people drive by in their mobile universes, unaware that they are on display or simply not concerned with what they don't see, typically talking on their cellphones or doing nostril expeditions of the most severe kind. I watch the clouds above the birds reflecting in the towers of glass sprawling over my location—does either of them realize the presence of the other or of myself watching them?

Guilty I am of looking over a person asking me for money at an intersection, trying to decide if they are really homeless or just making a quick buck. My eyes make their assesement based on clothes, eyes, teeth, fingernails and disposition. Are my eyes blinding me to what my heart could see or what God would desire me to see or do? Obviously there is a difference between real need and trickery; but is that His job to sort out or up to my discernment as I steward over my gifts and posessions? I am always inspired by people who demonstrate vision and strength in circumstances that seem hopeless or far less than desirable to most folks. I was inspired by this story and I think you will be also.

Mother triumphs over blindness to live life of vision and advocacy. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way—developing macular degeneration at age 7. But Niki Robinson has done more than just deal with it. Niki Robinson enjoys the support of her family: Jake, her 5-year-old son; Joey, her 3-year-old service dog; and Jessie, her 7-year-old daughter. Legally blind since she was a child, 34-year-old Robinson (formerly Mercer) decided to return to school and become a social worker so she could, in turn, help children with disabilities. She will graduate in May. More...

How is it that typically those who have less physical ability or some disability or just far less "stuff" are able to do immeasureably more than most of us healthy "normal" people? Is our vision so clouded by the "things" we have or want and the "things" we see as important that we are blinded to our own true reflection or other people's plights or needs or even how we could more effectively make an impact on the world, as opposed to what's good for just us? I don't know. I am certainly guilty of being blind...but I don't want to lose my eyes so that I might see. God, grant me the vision to see in spite of myself and my blessings; irregardless of my conditioning from the past by any pain or disceptions or life lessons. Let me always look with the innocence of a child and act/respond with the ability of an adult. Perhaps we need our own scars as much as we need the ability to look beyond them.

Hmmm....