It took me a long time to admit, but the squinting eyes gave me away. After years of 20/20 vision, my eyesight was going south. I tried to adapt with contacts, but that was a miserable fail. Now its progressive lenses. I value seeing clearly more and more each day, more than pretending that I’m fine without help.
If seeing words on a page is valuable, seeing people clearly is 100 times more so. Think of the issues that we struggle with as a society, simply because we aren’t seeing people accurately, for their value and significance. And even closer to home: in our families, our neighborhoods, our schools, and at work. What if every encounter was a time that I was seeing not just my own needs and desires, but was really looking at people, listening, caring, and seeking their welfare too. Asking them a question. Complimenting them on a quality. Just smiling and saying thank you. Asking if I can pray for them.
This is what Jesus did: Matt. 9:36 – “And seeing the crowds, he had compassion on them…for they were like sheep without a shepherd.” No righteous indignation, but a heart that was crushed because he saw their real condition.
But I can’t do that on my own consistently, like Jesus did. (Sometimes, I just want to run people off the road…metaphorically…usually 🙂 I need Jesus putting his mind and heart in me. That’s what I want, and that’s what I need. And I bet you do too. We all do. Let’s pray for that to happen. Imagine how we would change how people felt about themselves. Imagine how differently we would feel too. Maybe it take a little bit of anger out of the world and replace it with kindness and hope.
“God, help me to see one person or situation differently today than I normally do. The way you would. And to respond the way you would as well. Amen”