The man whispered, "God, speak to me." A meadowlark sang, but the man did not hear. So the man yelled, "God, speak to me!" Thunder and lightning rolled across the sky, but the man did not listen. The man looked around and said, "God, let me see you." A star shined brightly, but the man did not see. And the man shouted, "God, show me a miracle!" A life was born, but the man did not notice. So, the man ccried out in despair, "Touch me, God, and let me know you are here." Whereupon, God reached down and touched the man. But the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on.
The man in this story, or parable, if you will, chose to be blind to all the wonderful things God blessd him with experiencing. I was so sure coming into college that I had chosen a place where I would no longer have to deal with the ignorance that comes with blindness. I could not have been more wrong. I have definitely met a few people here who live with their eyes wide open to the good and bad - but mostly, everyone stumbles around in a daze by choice.
It is actually very sad to walk around such a beautiful campus and see so many people completely oblivious to the beauty around them. People don't just choose blindness to beauty, though. It is blindness to need, to abandonment, to self-contempt and deprecation. A chronic blindness exists in our culture to things outside of our individual lives.
Spiritual and social blindness is one of the greatest afflictions of our time. We have been raised in a culture that promotes selfishness and egocentric mentalities. We can't keep living like this. We push people away, we hurt them, we forget that they are human, too. I forget, as I have seen others do, that people exist outside of their relational function to me. My mother does not exist solely to mother me, but also to be a friend, a daughter, a sister, a boss, a light, and a shoulder. I do not exist to her only as a daughter but also as a friend, an ear, a sister in Christ and so many other things. The context that people retain in our lives is only one context of their entire existence. Blindness hinders our ability to see them as human and treat them as such.
I am currently at the National Christian College Forensics Invitational in Cedarville, Ohio. On our way down, we experienced some great difficulties at the airport acquiring the rental vehicles that had been requested on our behalf. Our head coach proceeded to make quite an embarassing and degrading scene in public. At one point he had four people within one company working for what he desired. He wants were understandable but he began treating these workers as if their only purpose in existence was to make his life easier and to accomodate his every desire. The situation was frustrating to everyone but we can't forget in our frustrations that God is the center of our lives. It seemed to most of us that our coach was not acknowledging the existence of these workers as humans - only workers. These people could have had parents or children in the hospital, they could be struggling with addictions, they could be at risk of losing their jobs... we never know.
Last week I was attending the worship service at my university on Sunday night. There were only a few of us and we sat toward the back. The past two weeks have been frustrating for everyone - regardless of the cause. This was our way to unwind and to breathe. For me, God is my breath and life. There is nothing that makes me closer to God than worshipping him barefoot. My friend, who I will refer to as Miss Little Sister (because she is one to me), feels the same way. We found our seats in the mezzanine under the balcony. We removed our shoes and the lights lowered. After the first few songs there was a complete surge of energy in the room. This burst was almost tangible with both of us reaching out for God. And then I felt her touch my arm. I turned to look at her and, with one of the biggest smiles I have ever seen on a person, she bent to whisper, "Megan, look around for a second..." I turned and all I could see were hands, raised high to God. It was one of the most breath-taking moments I have ever experienced. That energy was the Holy Spirit filling hundreds of broken and hurting hearts, opening eyes, and giving breath to those who forget to breathe. And almost every person in the room was reaching out to God. It was a complete sea of arms and souls raised to Christ, asking for His help.
Our God loves us; this is something we can never forget. With His love for each individual should come also our love and respect for these individuals and their problems. We can't afford the choice to be blind anymore. Our world breeds more hate and we were meant to be the light. So stop, open your eyes, and take a step in a new direction.
"His divine power...has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires. For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to persevereance, godliness; and to godliness, bortherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is near-sighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins." - 2 Peter 1:3-9
Open.
Your.
Eyes.
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