Open Your Eyes to See the Unseen

Photo Credit: Stephen Poff via Compfight cc

Open your eyes do you see me?

We are all guilty of it, we pass by people every day that just want to be seen.  Won’t you open your eyes to see the unseen. Sometimes it is the man on the corner asking for change. Do you stop and talk to him or rush on by?

There is the lady with all the kids pulling on her wrinkled clothes. Do you offer her a hand or step out-of-the-way.

When you see an old classmate busing the table where you just ate, do you say “hi” or keep on walking by.  Do you get frustrated with the one in front of you that uses food stamps and then wants change?

What about the one that scrounges in their purse only to come up pennies short.

We all get impatient and want to get on with our lives.  We would rather not look therefore we do not have to see.

There are moments every day that we could make our world a better place.  A moment to say thank you to the baggers making minimum wage at the grocery store.  Or to not be rude when your burger is not your way.

You see those little moments that we take for granted could mean the world in someone else’s day.

We see need on the TV,  where charities ask for our monthly gifts, gifts that mean nothing to us yet everything to them.  Our hearts break and we think someone needs to do something, yet that someone is you.

Rather than judging people for the clothes that they wear, what would happen if we showed them we  cared to see beyond their dirty rags?  If we saw people for who they are rather than what they can do. See each other, look into their eyes, see them for the being that they are.

We preach about doing for the least of these on Sunday.  The least are those you pass by every other day.

Take a moment out of your day, go a little out of your way.  Rather than avoiding those that hide from you in the shadows.  Reach out to them with a hand up rather than a hand out.  Feed not only the hungry food but also feed their soul my seeing them as yourself.

Nothing is lonelier than being of this world but never being seen.  Remember the kid in school that was always picked last.  He went home at night and cried himself to sleep. What about the girl who grew a bit faster than her friends, she went home and was abused by her mother’s boyfriend.

We spend our days self-absorbed in our own problems that we never see those that need to be seen. The next time we feel a little down.  Think about those that have no one around. They sleep on our street corners and we want to clean the mess, yet we all turn our backs on the real problems to address.

The next time your friend calls you in the middle of the night to talk.  Open your eyes and your heart as you could be their last hope indeed. When your spouse turns silent and you know something is amiss.  Try talking to them and hearing their pleas, not everything can be simply healed with a kiss.

You see no matter what walk of life we may come from we all want to be seen.  It does not matter if we are homeless and dirty, rejected and lonely, or married and wealthy.  Loneliness of identity and wanting to be seen knows no boundaries.

In closing, I ask you to take a moment to just see those that need to be seen.  Let’s remove the blinders of selfishness and look at others as our sisters and brothers.

May we each be the blessing another needs whether they ask or not.  We never know the difference we can make in someone else’s life if we just. See them for who they are.

Like a pebble in a pond they ripple can change the world. You never know you could be just one paycheck away from never being seen.

Leave a comment on: How will you make a ripple in your lake and open your eyes to see?

Blessings,

CJ