Let us see!

Well...howdy one and all! I know its been a long time since i've been in touch on either blog (for those who followed both).  Needless to say life has a way of running away with you and changing plans at least for a bit. So I thought I would touch base with everyone here. I thought I would share with you all the reflection I gave during evening prayer on our Gospel today. Here's hoping and praying that I am able to connect a bit more with everyone!

            What a simple act; making mud and putting it on the blind man’s eyes! I know that for myself I often look for healing in profound ways. Truth is that most often healing comes in the simple things in life. A walk, a good laugh, a smile, and the many other ways God brings healing to us. They may not seem as profound as the restoration of sight that today’s Gospel talks about. Or are they perhaps even more profound? It is those seemingly little things that help bring healing to individuals and communities.  They are what often help us shift our focus so that we can begin to see what God, or another, is trying to convey with new eyes. Just as the man healed was not able to see the one who had healed him to be able to identify him. So, too we often miss seeing Christ in our friends, family, and community members. Let us pray that we have the grace to see with new eyes and allow God to remove the blindness that keeps us from seeing the gifts that lie within each of us as well as one another.

            In reflecting on this Gospel I turned also to one of my favorite translations of scripture, The Message. One simple phrase in that translation caught my eye and heart.”Look instead for what God can do.” I know that often I personally am anxious and eager to find reasons for why suffering as well as good things happen in my life; seeking to find the logical explanation for why they might be. The reality is in each circumstance of our lives we need to look to what God desires to do through something, not aiming to place blame to help justify the struggle.

            This is not to say that either seeing Christ in others around us, especially those closest to us as well as looking at the good that God is trying to do even in difficult situations are easy to see. But, when we allow our eyes and hearts to be opened to God’s loving grace we are able to see with our eyes wide open and ears alert; trusting that God has something wonderful in store for us.  So may we on this Lenten journey continue to pray and dream with and for the new vision that God desires for each of us.

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