In thinking about fear, I guess my first thought is often the opposite of what it should be. I was the kid you had to work with, as opposed to working against. I never really liked being told NOT to do something, as THAT would be the only thing I could think of once you suggested it… Whatever. I’ve got problems.

     Finding things we are afraid of isn’t hard, but I liked the thought of opening with something we should be afraid of. Make sense?

     Do you have a healthy fear of being blind in an area of your life? If you’ve never thought about it, now’s as good a time as any. Most of us tend to assume everyone else should just adopt themselves to our point of view.

     Jesus heals a man born blind of his blindness, then He takes off. The religious leaders of the day, who were only spiritually blind, got this poor guy involved in a rolling argument about whether or not Jesus was legit. I can just see this guy actually looking around for the first time in his life! Every now and again some mean looking religious people yell something loud enough to get his attention, only long enough to bring an accusation against the Guy who performed this act of incredible power and kindness!

     The last thing I’d want to see first would be a bunch of angry religious people! I’d be looking at the sky. To actually SEE the bird who makes that noise you’ve only heard your entire life. Colors! Shapes! People! Pretty girls!

     Yeah, I really mean pretty girls! He’d never seen one. All he knew is that they smelled better than dudes. Sorry… but DO try to get into this guy’s head.

     Imagine his life opening up with possibilities. “Maybe a girl would want me… Maybe I could actually have a job… A family?”

     Who’d want to marry a blind beggar?

     Then some stupid spiritually blind guy hollers something negative about the Jesus who healed you? It’s no wonder he finally responds something like “Well, isn’t this amazing? No one born blind has EVER seen and you’re still wondering if He came from God? What’s wrong with you? Are you THAT blind, or do you also want to become His disciple?”. That’s when they threw him out of the Synagogue.

      Maybe a man born physically blind doesn’t assume he can spiritually see? Maybe when you’re in the middle of an argument with someone you assume, like we all do, that THEY are blind? To admit the possibility of our own piece of the pie is such a blow to our self esteem! Our self worth! Or our pride?    Ooooooh.

      Maybe a man born blind doesn’t have this propensity like we do? I wonder…

      Let’s get to it, do you ever Evaluate your decision making as if you might not be seeing clearly? The fruit of the tree is pretty obvious to everyone else in our lives. Idea!.. What if we would cut out the middle man of complete failure and start evaluating the possibilities during the process ourselves? Too hard on our egos? I’d rather say I was blind than get completely stuck in the mud and listen to everyone else say it…

     It worries me that through all of this, the blind man’s own parents were afraid to acknowledge what had happened for fear of getting kicked out of the Synagogue. Seems sort of sad that neither the life of their son nor the entire focus of the Law (Jesus) were more important to them than their status.

     I guess that’s because they were blind. Sucks to be them in a way.

     Sucks to be me too…