See and Speak
Excerpt from Matthew 9:27-34
“And their eyes were opened.”
Reflection by Donna Schaper
A sighted pastor on Long Island preached this text with a companion, who was physically blind. His sermon addressed the kind of blindness that Jesus healed and the kind of blindness that we choose. The second can’t be healed until we choose against it.
We keep so much to ourselves in a kind of blindness to the need we have to know what others think of us.
I have a friend who clearly has been taught another way. She always says what she sees. I have never met her without her acknowledging something about me. “You look good in purple.” “You seem tired.” “Your walk has more bounce in it today. What’s up?” Clearly she has trained herself to see. She has trained herself not to be blind to the enormous appreciation deficit disorder of our days.
Knowing how Jesus loved to open eyes, I am thinking of imitating my friend. I am thinking of saying out loud what I see. I am going to notice what I think I have already seen, which is what some insist is the goal of all travel. I am going to avoid what Anne Lamott calls the “malignant Advent Calendar” in which we see a door but refuse to open it. She claims to have been taught an agreement as a child. She would not see what she did see. She would not open doors. Secrets were behind them. As an adult, she learned to open doors and not only to see what she saw but also to speak it, out loud.
I’d like my eyes to be open. And if genuine macular degeneration comes my way, I imagine I will still rely on Jesus to keep me open.
Prayer
O God, open our eyes and then open our mouths. Keep us from being a part of closed-door living. Give us a key to unlock sight and sound. Amen.
Excerpt from Matthew 9:27-34
“And their eyes were opened.”
Reflection by Donna Schaper
A sighted pastor on Long Island preached this text with a companion, who was physically blind. His sermon addressed the kind of blindness that Jesus healed and the kind of blindness that we choose. The second can’t be healed until we choose against it.
We keep so much to ourselves in a kind of blindness to the need we have to know what others think of us.
I have a friend who clearly has been taught another way. She always says what she sees. I have never met her without her acknowledging something about me. “You look good in purple.” “You seem tired.” “Your walk has more bounce in it today. What’s up?” Clearly she has trained herself to see. She has trained herself not to be blind to the enormous appreciation deficit disorder of our days.
Knowing how Jesus loved to open eyes, I am thinking of imitating my friend. I am thinking of saying out loud what I see. I am going to notice what I think I have already seen, which is what some insist is the goal of all travel. I am going to avoid what Anne Lamott calls the “malignant Advent Calendar” in which we see a door but refuse to open it. She claims to have been taught an agreement as a child. She would not see what she did see. She would not open doors. Secrets were behind them. As an adult, she learned to open doors and not only to see what she saw but also to speak it, out loud.
I’d like my eyes to be open. And if genuine macular degeneration comes my way, I imagine I will still rely on Jesus to keep me open.
Prayer
O God, open our eyes and then open our mouths. Keep us from being a part of closed-door living. Give us a key to unlock sight and sound. Amen.
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