As I sat in a coffee shop this morning…I had the privilege to watch a young lady, who was blind, learning to navigate the cross walk system with traffic lights. Her ability to walk down the sidewalk was aided by an older woman who seemed to be teaching her to use the cane…but the challenge came at the actual light. She located the curb…but stood through what seemed like at least 2 complete cycles of the crossing lights. All the while, the older woman stood silent, arms gently crossed waiting quietly observing…and then she stepped around in front of this young lady and began to share what seemed to be all the options presented to her young friend. She motioned that she could cross in one of two directions… or what the curb and crosswalk feels like through the cane…and then, she motioned to her ears…this young lady was dependent upon her ears to let her know when it is safe to walk…either by the beeping of the sign…or perhaps at the prompt of her guide or another courteous crosser…This time, the guide stepped to the side, where the young lady gently grabbed her by the arm, and the two crossed… together.
This young lady’s ability to maneuver through town had three key elements: Her ability to hear well, recognition of what she was feeling (through her cane) and her willingness to let another walk beside her yet take the lead. In all that I first considered her blindness…I recognize she is learning new ways to “see” her path clearly.
What an inceredible lesson for Christians! We are navigating through life with God traveling this journey with us, but do we recognize it? Or better yet…are we willing to admit how blind we really are? Do we trust more or less in what we see or what the world is revealing to us? With God… we are freed to a new means of navigating or seeing our journey. We can exercise a greater sensitivity (hearing) to what God is saying to us through “His Word” (1 John 1:5-7). We are also blessed with the prompting of the Spirit (feeling) and learning to discern his Holy guidance (Gal 5:25)… and finally, we are invited to walk along side Christ by taking his arm (leading)…to share a journey , well rested and unloaded of our burdens (Matt 11: 28-29).
God is inviting us to consider our “blindness”… our ability to maneuver through this life, and recognize that not only is he is granting us the gifts to learn new ways to “see” more clearly...but his willingness and desire to travel this journey with us... "I once was blind but now I see..."
