40 Thoughts: Day 27

From a man you may have heard of once before:

“Love looks not with the eyes, but with the mind,
And therefore is winged Cupid painted blind.”

-William Shakespeare

We've all heard the old saying that love is blind. Usually it means that those in love can't see the other's flaws. Many have extended this saying to testify that God's love must be blind for him to love us fools. That may very well be.

But Shakespeare brings up another interesting point about love being blind. Blindness allows us to feel and hear things that we wouldn't have noticed with sight. Shakespeare seems to think that loving without eyes allows us to love with the mind instead.

What a concept. Our society tries to teach us through pointed Disney media that looks don't matter, and truthfully they shouldn't. But most media, even many of Disney's stories, make looks important, perhaps most important, in our silly human lives.

The heartbreaking truth is, we may never be able to force people into seeing more than our looks. But we can start a "blind revolution" by looking at others without our eyes. So far this Lenten Season we've talked about the Prodigal Son, the Woman at the Well, the blind man, the Pharisees, Sacrifice, and Love.

There are many things that bring all of these together. Blindness is one of them. The father of the Prodigal Son chose to be blind to his son's previous faults. Jesus chose to be blind to the woman's social standing and past sins. The blind man chose to be blind to the Pharisees doubt and believed in Jesus anyways. Unfortunately, the Pharisees were full of wrong sight and chose to be blind to all the wrong things, Jesus included. And sacrifice and love happen when we choose to be blind to our own Earthly desires and wants and when we choose instead to focus on our other senses. That includes love, which brings us to and through sacrifice.

In just a couple of weeks, we're going to celebrate Jesus' death and resurrection. It happened many, many moons ago. So why should we care?

The only reason for you to care about Jesus' death and resurrection is that you really love him. So love him. Love him for dying for us, saving us. Love him for walking on the Earth and giving us an example to follow.

But whatever you do, love him with your mind, not with your eyes. Be grateful for the miracles he's performed in your life. Thank him for keeping you safe when falling from the tree branch out front when you were seven. Thank him for sparing the life of your aunt. Thank him for staying with you through your hardest nights. Thank him for every blessing, and every hardship that taught or changed you.

But don't love him for that. Don't love him for who he's appeared to be in your life. Don't love him for the face value of everything he's done for you.

Instead, use the rest of this Lenten Season, and the rest of your life, to get better acquainted with God. Then you can tell everyone that you know him, that you are not blind to anything he is, that you choose to be blind to the world's construction of who they think he should be, and most of all, that you love him. It's all really wants.

Have a knowing, loving, blind day