Only with the Heart

"Can a blind man act as a guide to a blind man?" Luke 6:39

God made a human being to be tremendously amazing! In Jesus' time, blind men could not do much but be a nuisance I suppose. He was reduced to begging. But today, if a blind man can learn how to echolocate, he can ride a mountainbike in the forest by himself, he can "hear" buildings from 1,000 feet away, he can navigate through a strange place smoothly and with no hesitation. Daniel Kish "sees" the way bats see in the dark. He became the first totally blind person in the U.S. to be fully certified to be able to lead another blind man and guide him. So yes, Daniel Kish can act as a guide to another blind man. In some ways. Echolocation cannot tell you if there is a hole in the ground, or if there is park bench in front of a stone wall.

But because God made the human being to be tremendously amazing, we can be arrogant and proud. When we know a little bit, we think we know it all. Like the parable of the 6 blind men and the elephant. One concluded that the elephant was a snake because he reached out for the tail. One adamantly insisted it was a wall, another 4 tree trunks, etc. We can be like that too, observing people from our great height of knowing. I know I am. My husband reminds me often of how I am too prone to judging others. Sometimes I condemn people based on how they look. This sleazy looking politician is crooked. That policeman with the big stomach is just standing there looking for someone to catch to get some money for his dinner. etc etc. Lord, heal my blindness. When I see people, let me see with your eyes.

"It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye," as Antoine de Sainte-Exupery wrote in the Little Prince. Indeed, this is so true.