When Did I Go Blind?

Truly God is good to Israel,
    to those whose hearts are pure.

Psalm 73:1 

 

"As the son of a son of a sailor
I went out on the sea for adventure
Expanding their view of the captain and crew
Like a man just released from indenture

As a dreamer of dreams and a travelin' man
I have chalked up many a mile
Read dozens of books about heroes and crooks
And I've learned much from both of their styles"

-Son of a Son of a Sailor-

Jimmy Buffett

 

I like to read.  Partly to learn things and partly to keep in touch with my sense of wonder and imagination.  I remember reading books about pirates and then spending the afternoon daydreaming about what I had read.  I read the Hobbit so many times that the pages started to fall out of it, and every time the Hobbits ate, I got hungry.  I remember looking through my Grandmother's National Geographic Magazines (she had then from the late 50s through the early 80s) and all the amazing photos of far off lands and wonderful creatures.

 

Then....somewhere along the way I got lost and became blind.  I lost my sense of wonder and appreciation for the world God created just for us.  I became blind to the incredible sights all around me.  I became focused on getting what I wanted instead of appreciating what I already had. I was striving to get more instead of enjoying the gift of life.

 

When I read the words "God is good," my heart should be filled with wonder, amazement, gratitude, humility and love.  Instead, my heart was filled with a busy schedule, bills to be paid, a boss, my hatred of other drivers who keep getting in my way, that vacation I never seemed to have time to take, the problems I was having with "church folk."  In short, I had forgotten that God created this entire universe for us and I wasn't willing to look around and be in awe of it.  I had become bored with daydreaming and my fascination with the incredible world around me had become "silly."

 

God has never created anything that meant to remind us of who He is and how amazing He is.  Yet, look around and see how many people have their eyes stuck to their devices (I'm guilty of that sometimes too).  What will it take for us to look around and appreciate what is all around us?  What will it take to return to that sense of wonder and fascination?