There are many things that come to mind when I think about seeing or lack of seeing. A few thoughts follow.
Back in college, down South, I heard the expression, “I am so mad I am seeing red.” Meaning the anger prevents us from seeing clearly.
As a kid I worked at a pony ranch. The pony that pulled the wagon had to have blinders or we would stop and look at everything. For us, spiritual blinders really keep us from seeing the big picture while we narrow our focus on one small item.
Around the corner from where I grew up was “Francis the blind boy” (as we called him). We would try to sneak past him on the sidewalk. Francis could feel the vibrations. When he would ask who we were we would say “me.” He then knew our names by our voice. In a sense Francis could see much better than we could with our taken for granted working eyes.
There is a saying, “You can’t see the forest for the trees.” It seems like a reference to just seeing the unimportant stuff. We all know, “There is none so blind as those who will not see.” Sounds like a closed mind to me.
Let’s look at John 9:11-41. It is the story of Jesus healing a man who was blind from birth. Jesus spit and mixed in mud and placed it on the man’s eyes. Jesus sent him to wash in the pool of Siloam and the man could see. The Pharisees questioned the man. They asked how he received his sight and he told them honestly. The Pharisees were upset because Jesus healed on the Sabbath. They lost sight of the importance of the healing. They kept questioning the man because they didn’t want to believe him. They threw him out of the Temple. Jesus found the man and told him that He healed him. Verse 39 says, “Jesus said, ‘For judgment I have come into the world, so that the blind will see and those who see will become blind.’”
So it seems that we have to be careful to keep an open mind and open eyes to pay more attention to seeing spiritually and not always rely on our physical sight alone. There is a prayer that says, “Always pray to have eyes to see in people a heart that forgives the worst.” AMEN!
