Sight
Jesus stopped and ordered the man to be brought to him. When he came near,
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord I want to see,” he replied.
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight
and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Luke 18:40-43
Perhaps it’s age or maybe it’s true growth but lately I have been much more aware of the people around me. None of us live in a vacuum. How long ago did John Donne tell us, “no man is an island”? This is not news but somehow lately it has become more apparent and certainly more important to me. Each day I work with a group or children who bear a label. That label changes every few years but usually includes words like, exceptional or special. Those words are euphemisms for handicapped. The children I see every day are handicapped. They are also special and exceptional, a never-ending source of delight and aggravation, sometimes in equal measure. I thought of them today when I read a poem my cousin Karen sent me that was written from the perspective of an older woman in a nursing home. In it the woman is asking that her caregivers see her as she truly is, inside and not as the limited outside view leads them to believe. She pleads, “see me.”
The poem made me sad but also introspective. How often we take people at face value, literally, and never go any deeper. I see it often as I travel with our students. There are people who smile and wave because they are acquainted with the kids from a different arena. There are people who smile and speak to the children as if they are infants. There are those who speak to them truly out of kindness. Then there are my favorites, the people who speak to our students as they would to any other child in the building. Our students are not special or exceptional to them. They are just kids, going down the halls like any other kid.
Most of us respond to other people based on what we see, pretty gets more attention than homely. Wealth is still something to be admired but you don’t actually have to be wealthy you just have to look wealthy. Lack of people skills is mistaken for haughtiness. Awkwardness is mistaken for any number of evils, depending on how it presents. The worst, the anguish included in the old woman’s poem, is when sadness and loneliness are mistaken for bitterness and anger.
In the poem the woman begs, “see me.” By their behaviors our students sometimes beg for the same thing as do so many of us. We all want to be seen, truly seen, the inside, not the packaging. What our students want people to see, what the old woman wants people to see, what most of us want people to see is our hearts. See my heart that is afraid to trust you. See my heart that is much stronger than my mind. See my heart that wants desperately to have a friend. See the Jesus in me.
Jesus commands us to love one another, to do that we have to see with his eyes and with his heart. Our own sight will often cause us to hurt or disappoint. It will certainly cause us to judge. The eyes of Jesus see through the outer trappings of feigned wealth or intelligence. They see beyond the constrictions of a damaged mind and a worn out body. His eyes see us as we truly are and in seeing all of that he loves us. He invites us, no he instructs us to do the same, to love one another. Today ask Jesus to give you his eyes to see the world around you in a more compassionate way.
Jesus asked him, “What do you want me to do for you?”
“Lord I want to see,” he replied.
Jesus said to him, “Receive your sight; your faith has healed you.” Immediately he received his sight
and followed Jesus, praising God. When all the people saw it, they also praised God. Luke 18:40-43
Perhaps it’s age or maybe it’s true growth but lately I have been much more aware of the people around me. None of us live in a vacuum. How long ago did John Donne tell us, “no man is an island”? This is not news but somehow lately it has become more apparent and certainly more important to me. Each day I work with a group or children who bear a label. That label changes every few years but usually includes words like, exceptional or special. Those words are euphemisms for handicapped. The children I see every day are handicapped. They are also special and exceptional, a never-ending source of delight and aggravation, sometimes in equal measure. I thought of them today when I read a poem my cousin Karen sent me that was written from the perspective of an older woman in a nursing home. In it the woman is asking that her caregivers see her as she truly is, inside and not as the limited outside view leads them to believe. She pleads, “see me.”
The poem made me sad but also introspective. How often we take people at face value, literally, and never go any deeper. I see it often as I travel with our students. There are people who smile and wave because they are acquainted with the kids from a different arena. There are people who smile and speak to the children as if they are infants. There are those who speak to them truly out of kindness. Then there are my favorites, the people who speak to our students as they would to any other child in the building. Our students are not special or exceptional to them. They are just kids, going down the halls like any other kid.
Most of us respond to other people based on what we see, pretty gets more attention than homely. Wealth is still something to be admired but you don’t actually have to be wealthy you just have to look wealthy. Lack of people skills is mistaken for haughtiness. Awkwardness is mistaken for any number of evils, depending on how it presents. The worst, the anguish included in the old woman’s poem, is when sadness and loneliness are mistaken for bitterness and anger.
In the poem the woman begs, “see me.” By their behaviors our students sometimes beg for the same thing as do so many of us. We all want to be seen, truly seen, the inside, not the packaging. What our students want people to see, what the old woman wants people to see, what most of us want people to see is our hearts. See my heart that is afraid to trust you. See my heart that is much stronger than my mind. See my heart that wants desperately to have a friend. See the Jesus in me.
Jesus commands us to love one another, to do that we have to see with his eyes and with his heart. Our own sight will often cause us to hurt or disappoint. It will certainly cause us to judge. The eyes of Jesus see through the outer trappings of feigned wealth or intelligence. They see beyond the constrictions of a damaged mind and a worn out body. His eyes see us as we truly are and in seeing all of that he loves us. He invites us, no he instructs us to do the same, to love one another. Today ask Jesus to give you his eyes to see the world around you in a more compassionate way.
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