Today is the Fourth Sunday in Lent, and we are beginning to feel the burden that Lent can place on us. For those of us who take his season seriously, we wonder when it will end, but we know we are not yet even close to Palm Sunday and the hope of Easter.
Sometimes as we hear the readings, we ask, what’s this got to with Lent? But today’s story of Jesus healing the blind man has lots to ask as well as to tell us. What is it we are blind to in today’s world? We know we want to shut a great deal out because we find it so unsettling, even disturbing. Yet, we know we can’t.
We know that we are – or try to be – blind to much around us because we feel so overwhelmed, but there are also the surprises we sometimes have that open our eyes to delight. A small patch of early snowdrops or crocus remind us of God’s creation we accept for granted. The hand of a friend or the look of care when we felt down. These sights help get us through a day when the world around us seems so bleak.
Prayer for the Day
Open our eyes, O God, so we can envision a world of peace,
For when all else fails, your visioin is constant in our lives;
Although evil may be present in the world, we have faith
That your love will be triumphant and justice will reign.
Enable us, we pray, to overcome evil with good
And empower us to bring your vision of peace to the world.
In the name of the One who shares your peace with us
Even Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.
Thoughts for the Day
Where there is no vision, there is no hope.
George Washington Carver, African-American educator (1864-1943)
The only thing worse than being blind is having sigh but no vision.
Helen Keller, American deaf-blind educator (1880-1968)
Where there is no vision, the people perish,
But happy are those who keep the law.
Proverbs 29:18