Making a Difference

by admin

Gina Caswell Kelly

I was talking with a man once who told me about being at the nursing home and seeing a little lady needing some help down the hallway in her wheelchair. He stated that he started pushing her toward her room when another lady stopped him and said, “You will have to help her. She is blind.” To which the lady in the wheelchair quickly snapped, “I am not blind! I just can’t see!”

Well, there is a difference, I guess. To say you were blind would be a bit harder to deal with than just not being able to see, I suppose. It is all in the wording.

Now what about you. Are you blind, or can you just not see? Blind seems accidental when we are talking about life, but not seeing appears to be a choice. Sometimes we are blind to what is going on around us, because we simply just don’t know. But choosing not to see what is happening is a whole other issue.

Choosing to see is intentional. Choosing to see what God has placed in our path. Choosing to see the heartbreak and pain of others is intentional. I used to get an email from my church’s International Mission Board. Sometimes there are heartbreaking stories of atrocities from around the world. I read stories of people in need and hurting. I read stories of missionaries needing more of everything in order to do their job. Sometimes I wish that I had not read these stories, so they would not be on my mind. I wish that I was blind to the struggles of others around the world. But once I have seen it, the burden is mine to pray, to give, or even to go.

Even locally, we choose whether or not to see what is going on around us. We can look at our community and see the needs that are so prevalent among us, both physical and spiritual. Or we can go through life, happily blind to those hurting right here in our home town.

When asked to serve on a committee, what is your response? What about when someone mentions a need someone has? Do you become deaf, in addition to blind? Simply because you don’t want to be bothered? Sometimes we even make the choice to see, but not help because “I know what they will do with that money.” Or whatever the need might be. Let me tell you a little something. You helping others is between you and God. What those being helped do with what was given to them is between them and God. The blessing is still yours if you help, and the ones helped are even blessed.

We live in a world in desperate need of someone who chooses to see. There are people walking among us praying that someone will see them and reach out with even just a kind word.

God places us in a certain spot for a reason. He then expects us to be willing to see what is going on around us. He will remove your blindness. Choosing to see is then up  to you.

So, what about you? Are you blind? Or can you just not see? Open your eyes. Look with eyes that see as the Father sees. It will make a difference.

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