Just thinking....

Although I have been accused of "thinking too much", it seems to be my nature.  But I was watching the Brandon Heath video "Give me your eyes" and thinking again.  Thinking about those who are forgotten. 


In our society we are all so busy. Getting to work, working, getting home, taking care of our homes.  It seems that our own little worlds are so small that there is not time in the day to look around and really see what is going on.  Sure, we do watch the news, but how easy is it to turn it off because we don't want to hear, yet again, a story that will depress us or make us afraid. 


There is so much going on just around the corner from any of us.  There are those in nursing homes, trapped, in a prison of pain, blindness, who are suffering, and we drive past these homes every day, without a thought.  There are those in prison, although perhaps for good reasons, who are sad and suffering.  There are those in houses that we can't see, who are hungry, lonely, hurting.  There are those under bridges, trees in the park, hidden in the places where the shame of their circumstance won't be discovered by the world. 


We drive past them every day.  We walk past them in the supermarket.  We live next door to them.  They work with us.  We do not see them.  How can that be?  How could I have missed all those hurting ones?


I think perhaps I am blinded by the world, but no, as I was thinking this morning, I realize I am blinded by self.  I have much to accomplish on any given day, too much to do, not enough time.  I am too busy, too embarrassed to talk to those on the street corner, or sometimes just don't have a clue what to do about it. It is not that I don't care, not that most of us don't care.  It is that we are caught up in routines that we don't want to break because that is how we believe we are going to succeed in life.


But what is success?  Having recently retired, I am not feeling any great sense of accomplishment.  Perfect scores at work only made me want more perfect scores, and only fueled my drive to do everything perfectly, which made me nearly crazy sometimes.  I can truly say, having worked for the State for years, I will not be in the worlds richest list.  True, I had some accomplishments that brought satisfaction for the moment, but only for that moment. 


My only true successes were the ones where I poured everything I had into someone.  Giving a bed to a homeless teen, maybe some direction in life, or even just giving kind words.  Teaching a man in a nursing home how to operate the remote on a daily basis because he forgets.  Stopping by to visit with an elderly person.  Helping a kid with their homework.  Reaching out to a homeless person, who wanted to change his life, but had no clue where to begin. Giving a hot bowl of soup to the man on the corner.  These things are the only things that ever brought me any satisfaction in life.


I was reading my Bible last night, specifically John 17.  In this chapter, Jesus prays for us, while he was in the Garden of Gethsemane, and says "These things I speak that my joy be fulfilled in themselves".  But what was that joy He spoke of ? 


I find myself thinking of what He did on the earth, healing the sick and blind, feeding the hungry, giving them words of hope, dying so that others could live.  And I wonder can I do these things.  I wonder how I will even know where to begin. I do not have magical powers, or even the eyes to see all that I have been missing.  But I do have a Father in Heaven who does.  I want His joy.  To reach out and touch those who are hurting, and to give them hope. 

Lord please, today, help me to not miss even the smallest thing. Give me your heart, and Your arms. And today, please, give me Your eyes.  
Copyright © 2011 by Susan Linn-Gomez. All Rights Reserved.(Please take a moment to view the video by Brandon Heath.)