Eyes

On Saturday afternoon I went out for lunch with a friend. While we were sitting there talking I looked into his eyes and was struck..he had the most beautiful eyes I had ever really noticed. As he talked I sort of phased out, and realized those eyes reflected more then just physical beauty, they reflected his inner beauty as well...his innocence, his charm, his humor, and his sincere kindness. After lunch I really started thinking about it, and realized you can tell almost everything about a person by their eyes.

As we age, we worry about the wrinkles around our eyes, or how they may begin to droop. We can tell when someone is drunk or in any way intoxicated by their eyes. Our eyes are a reflection of our years, our experience, our current state of mind, and the countless experiences they have seen through the years.

The Gospel this weekend tells the story of the man named Bartimaus, who is on the roadside begging. He cries out to Jesus asking Him to have pity on Him. The end of the passage reads, ;
"Jesus said to him in reply, "What do you want me to do for you?"
The blind man replied to him, "Master, I want to see."
Jesus told him, "Go your way; your faith has saved you."
Immediately he received his sight
and followed him on the way."

The only thing this man wanted in return was his sight. Our sight, our eyes, are so key to our human experience. It's how we take in the world. It's in many ways the first step to many judgments and decisions we make each day. It's the second step that is so important, and that is how we process what those eyes take in. There was a wonderful quote on Desperate Housewives, spoken by Mary Alice. Mary Alice is one of a group of women who are friends living on the same street. Mary Alice takes her own life in the first episode and narrates the series from Heaven, as she looks down on her friends living their daily lives.

"An odd thing happens when we die, our senses vanish. Taste, touch, smell and sound become a distant memory, but our sight? Ah, our sight expands and we can suddenly see the world we left behind so clearly. Of course most of what's visible to the dead could also be seen by the living, if they would only take the time to look."

Lets all open our eyes...REALLY open our lives, and truly see the love in our lives that we are missing, the opportunities we are neglecting, the judgments we made too hastily, and the pain we may be causing without even knowing.