Blinders

I was driving on the highway today and I passed a trailer with some horses in it. I casually glanced over at them and noticed that they were wearing blinders. Trainers put those on the horses so that the horses can't look around and get spooked by their surroundings. As long as the horses look straight ahead and aren't distracted, the ride will be fine for them.

That got me thinking about the blinders that used to be on me, and how sometimes I wish I had them back. Recently I have been wanting to live in ignorance of the things going on around me...ignorance is bliss, so they say, and I want to live in bliss! Sometimes it seems like things were so much simpler before I had my blinders taken off. Before I knew what a homeless person caught in addiction really looked like. Before I knew the names and faces of children who don't know what it means to be loved. Before I saw the faces of people abandoned and forgotten. Before I knew what loneliness really meant. Things seemed much simpler then, and much more blissful.

As nice as the ride is for the horses, however, there is a lot that they miss out on when they are wearing their blinders. Today was a beautiful day in Philadelphia, and the skyline was absolutely captivating...but the horses missed it because their blinders kept them from seeing it. There were children laughing in the car in front of me, and the horses missed it. I didn't though. I don't have blinders, and as often as I get to see the ugly, I also get to see the spectacular.

So, I had to ask myself...do I really want blinders? Or, is it worth it to see (and even feel) the ugly so that I also get to see the beautiful? The answer is very easy...I do NOT want the blinders, and its absolutely worth it. The truth is, everything goes so much deeper that even what you see. For every homeless addict I meet on the street, there is a God who knows their every need and desire, and desires to take care of them. For every child that doesn't feel loved, there is a heavenly Father pursuing him/her with intense and undeniable love. For every person person who feels abandoned and forgotten, there is a God who has promised to NEVER leave or forsake them. For every lonely person, there is a God with them at every moment. There is a God who loves them...there is the God who IS love.

There is beauty all around me that I don't want to miss. Bonita and Linda dancing before the Lord and loving it. Miguel reading his bible the day he couldn't come to after-school, and then being so excited about what he read that he had to run and tell me all about it. Pedro making me a card and telling me that I am his best friend. The Lord meeting me in my most desperate moment of loneliness and telling me that He sees me.

The truth is that there is also beauty everywhere, even in the ugly, so to be blinded to anything, good or bad, is to be blinded to Christ. I don't want that. I want all of Him. I want to see and do and feel whatever it takes to receive all of Him. So Lord, keep my eyes focused on you. Help me to not get spooked by my surroundings, but please don't put blinders on me. I want to see everything...I want to see you.