give me your eyes

What would it be like to be blind?

Would you rather be blind or deaf? 

The decision between blindness versus deafness is something that, obviously, one can't make when it really gets down to becoming either or. But in a hypothesizing sense, I think it's a very difficult decision. I've always thought that, as a musician, I guess I would choose to be blind rather than deaf. I love music, so why would I want to be deaf?

But seriously, imagine what it would be like. You wouldn't be able to see the mixing of purple, orange, red, yellow when the sun sets, or the smiles on the faces of your loved ones. On a shallower level, you wouldn't be able to appreciate nice clothes anymore; there wouldn't be a point in going to fancy restaurants or dance shows; there wouldn't be a point to even sitting down to surf the web. You would have to depend on others to direct you in a new place, and who knows who's dependable if you can't see them. 

But you know, it's interesting, because in Bible study the other day, we said that the eye was the first step to sinning. Every sin that you know - lust, gluttony and greed, perhaps even pride - begins with one look. But the ability to see is so ridiculously important to us: it was estimated in 2003 that about 36 million Americans spend about $1.95 to 3.5 billion on contact lenses every year. About 1.3 million others spend $2 billion a year to receive refractive (Lasik) surgery. Why do we so want to reverse a process that is natural? Perhaps because we don't want to stop another process that is natural to us: sinning.

Not to say all blind people are sinless, or even that if you become blind, you'll be less sinful than if you had 20/20 vision. But it's definitely something to think about.

Eyes are just super-duper important, so use them well. Our last OFlow (dance ministry) piece was based on Brandon Heath's song, "Give Me Your Eyes," where he asks to see the world through God's eyes, to see things with more depth, understanding, and compassion. We see because God wanted us to enjoy the gifts he has given us, the everyday little things that are so perfect and beautiful - even if it is murky and gray in Philly today. 

Why do people usually list eyes as one of the first things they notice and/or love about the opposite gender? Because apparently, it's like the "window to the soul" or something cheesy like that. So yeah. Not only do we use our eyes to see the world, the world uses them to see us. So again, use them well.

(The opposite scenario, but a good video nonetheless.)

100th post!