Are you Blind?

I can still hear the words in my head like it was yesterday.  I’m ten years old and standing by the stove in my kitchen. OFF-OFF-OFF-OFF. The words slowly and systematically came out of my mouth, like this was normal for any ten-year-old. In our family, this was a regular nighttime ritual.  Typically, my mom asked my twin sister or me to check the buttons on the stove at night before we went to bed—each electric burner connected to four buttons, High-Medium-Low-Off. Our mom would lean forward, pushing every “off button” as we stood by the stove, saying “OFF.” Checking the stove was routine in our family.

Next, we checked the front door. “Is it locked?” mom would say. “Yes, mom, it’s locked.”  “Can you check the thermostat?” On and on, she would go, and most times, we were compliant. However, at times we became exasperated with this craziness and said, “Are you blind or what?” Much to our surprise, years later, we learned that she indeed was blind in one eye.

My mother lost her eyesight in one eye in a tragic accident as a very young child.  During the Depression, her family had taken in boarders who paid to live at their house. One night, a man tripped and fell on my mom while she sat in a wooden baby walker of some sort. The walker broke and splintered in her eye, causing immediate blindness in one eye.  She had to wait until she was fourteen years old to receive a cosmetic glass eye, so she suffered embarrassment and teasing during her young years.  When she married at age thirty-seven, subsequently having three daughters, my father told her never to let us know about her eye, so she didn’t. Though my father died before we were three, she kept the secret. I thought she had a lazy eye, so I was shocked when I finally learned the truth.

In my twenties I learned about my mother’s blindness in one eye. All those previous years, I never saw her without her glass eye. When the secret was out, I found myself putting my hand over my eye to experience how it felt to see the world as she did.  I had a new appreciation for her life and the challenges she faced. Blindness, even partial blindness, can be debilitating. My mother didn’t have peripheral vision, which became glaringly evident as she aged. Also, when it was dark, she was afraid she would fall. Depth perception was difficult. Our ability to see clearly and accurately is essential!

How about our SPIRITUAL VISION? DO YOU SUFFER FROM SPIRITUAL VISION LOSS? 

· Do you only see what is right in front of you and not the potential for what could be?

· When things seem spiritually dark, are you paralyzed with fear?

·  Are you afraid to step out in faith because it doesn’t feel safe?

There are times that I do! I find myself living like someone who does not fully SEE the hope that Jesus has given me as His daughter. My vision DIMS by everything I see around me, and the darker it gets, the more afraid I become.  My present circumstances keep me from SEEING the big picture.

The saying, “you can’t see the forest for the trees,” comes true.  I only see what is happening in front of me rather than seeing the big picture, paralyzing me with fear and keeping me from embracing the possibilities around me. Does this happen to you? The “eyes of our heart” are not fully open to what God has for your life.

“I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people.” Ephesians 1:18

The apostle Paul penned these words to the church in Ephesus while he was in prison in Rome.  Though his present circumstances could have clouded his spiritual vision, it did not. He knew who he was in Christ, and he had hope that didn’t depend on his present circumstances. His vision was 20/20.

My prayer for your life and mine is that our spiritual vision gets better by the day, and our hearts are renewed and enlightened to know the hope He has called us.

“Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” Psalms 119:18 (NIV)

“I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths; I will guide them; I will turn the darkness into light before them and make the rough places smooth. These are the things I will do; I will not forsake them.” Isaiah 42:16

I am taking my spiritual eyesight seriously. I believe God will guide us along unfamiliar paths and make the dark places light.

How about you?  

Liz