seeing with your eyes closed

Before I begin, let me just say that finals are over and all my symptoms of stress have faded away. I have an amazing amount of free time now that classes are over. I'm such a dork though that my last final was on friday and on saturday night I..... stayed at home and read a book. (although this time it was a book i didn't have to read, so that made it special).

Seeing with your eyes closed...

At Sunday's church service the theme was about "keeping watch." This being the season of advent there was a story of the shepherds keeping watch and how it was, in part, their watchfulness that allowed them to see God come into the world. The service was good and was filled with a lot of talk of "watching" and "beholding" and how important those things are in seeing God in the world. At the end of the sermon some music played and along with it was a slide show that displayed close ups of people's eyes. During communion we were invited to make eye contact with those giving the elements, and at the end of the service we held candle's and sang one of my favorite songs which contains the words, "spirit wash over me, open my eyes so I can see all there is around me."

Now, the service in itself was pretty good, but what was most fascinating to me was that during the entire service, sitting in the second row was a "blind" woman with her seeing eye dog. Yeah, think about that for a minute.

I'm sure the woman wasn't offended or anything since the multiple references to "watching" and eyes were largely metaphors, but it did get me thinking. During the service when I thought of "keeping watch" and seeing God in the world I was thinking of looking for God's presence in average people. You know, of seeing God when a kid in the lunchroom helps another kid pick up his spilled tray. Or of seeing a smile and kind words from the "dirty bum" on the street. Still, most of my thoughts involved the literal act of "seeing." And then I thought, "would it be easier to see God in the world if you didn't use your eyes...if you were like the woman in the second row?"

I've been told that something like 90% of our information is obtained through the eyes. I've also heard it said that 80% (i could be off on that stat) of the information we convey is actually non-verbal. Intonation and body language actually convey as much information as the actual words themselves. But what if you're blind? Without relying on all those visual cues, blind people must have developed super-sensitivity to other things. They actually "see" differently. How then, would a blind person see God in the world?

I do think there are ways that sighted people are disadvantaged in seeing God. We have a lot more information to sort though and be distracted by. I assume that the lady in the second row takes no notice of what brand my clothes are or whether my hair is dirty and uncombed. She probably doesn't know what car I drive or whether I'm wearing a fat diamond ring or if I'm covered in tatoos. Many of us "filter" the people we meet with visual cues. I'm not saying that's always a bad thing. After all, I probably would be less likely to develop a close relationship with someone who is driving a Hummer, someone that I observe doing drugs, or someone that appears 50 years older than me. But are there times I've missed out on seeing God because i've been distracted by those visual cues? How would you choose who to meet and talk to if you couldn't see them?

...and when God looks at me, does she even bother using her eyes? ...i'll bet the woman in the second row could give me some insight as to what I "look" like to God.