THERE ARE NONE SO BLIND AS THOSE WHO WILL NOT SEE

This quote from Genesis says it all about some of the stubborn folks in life who refuse to look past their noses, their own egos, their own needs and their own desires. It’s dangerous enough for average people to be stuck in this pattern, but when it applies to a leader of any kind … spiritual or political … problems arise. The world we live in and the political climate of our own country pretty much illustrates that point. Yet, there is only so much we can do about leaders of any kind. We can hold them in love, in light and in prayer, recognizing the God part of them that they have forgotten or buried under pride, ego or even deeply felt hurt of their own.

I’m sure we all know people like this: people who complain and do nothing to make the world a brighter and more loving place, people who seem to suck the very air out of any room they walk into, people who see nothing but storms on the weather front. If we keep hoping these people will change, if we keep hoping we can please them no matter what, we remain stuck loving the “unavailable”. This blocks the flow of our good. It eats away at our sense of self-worth, erodes our confidence and fills our bellies with pain and our hearts with longing.

In that case I am the one who is blind and will not see. Raise an imaginary hand if this is true of you. We spend precious energy trying to please and impress folks who just don’t have it in them to respond to whatever we say or do. For myself, I realize that these longings go back to childhood. Who among us wanted more love and more attention from our parents and did not receive it … either at all … or else received the kind of attention that no one wants … the kind that hurts and abuses … bruising young hearts.

My problem is that I have allowed people to hurt me from beyond the grave as well as feel hurt by the ones right here sharing planet earth with me. The deceased are long gone. The ones whose love and approval I would like are perhaps totally unaware or do not care. So, now I’m stuck being disappointed with the deceased AND the living. Okay, it happens to all of us right, if we are being gut honest? But to remain there for the rest of my life - our lives - is a recipe for disaster: physically, mentally, emotionally and, especially, spiritually.

Holding on to disappointment stuns our growth … maybe even our physical growth as a child … but most certainly it stuns the kind of growth that God placed us on this earth to enjoy. That is the growth of the soul. That is the growth of a heart that loves beyond boundaries … one that loves whether it is loved in return or not, the kind that Jesus gave away, even to his death on the cross. That is a pure and spiritual love. Yet the human heart also has to have the good sense to recognize when it is time to let go of those feelings of wanting to be loved and accepted by everyone we meet. That is simply not realistic.

So, go easy on yourself, but do not be one of the blind who will not see.