"Was Blind, But Now I See"

When I don't wear my contacts or corrective glasses, I am legally blind. The definition of "legally blind" in North American and Europe is have 20/200 vision or less in your best eye. Fortunately, my vision can be corrected to 20/20.

For the few moments when I wake up each morning, I get a taste of vision impairment. It's a little scary not to be able to see clearly. I can only imagine what it would be like to not be able to see at all.

However, there are other kinds of blindness just as debilitating as physical. There is the blindness that can't see beyond outward appearances. When afflicted with this kind of blindness we focus on physical beauty and ignore inner beauty. Even worse, we might judge the value of a person solely based on physical characteristics. The title of this blog is from the hymn "Amazing Grace." It was written by John Newton, a slave trader, whose eyes were opened to the horrors of slavery. He was not only able to see his own wretchedness, but also God's grace.

In the spiritual realm, a form of blindness is the inability or unwillingness to see life as a sacred gift. When spiritually blind, we don't/won't recognize what is good and holy in the creation, including each other.

The cure for spiritual blindness is to open our eyes to the sacredness of the surrounding world. To see the world through the corrective lens of gratitude is to recover our sight. As with cures for other kinds of blindness, this is a process that can take time and effort. Yet, it begins with the simple words, "thank you."