With Eyes Wide Open

Do you not yet perceive or understand? Is your heart still hardened? Having eyes, do you not see? And having ears do you not hear? And do you not remember Mark 8: 17b-18 NKJV

This morning I went to pour myself a bowl of cereal and found that all of my regular bowls were in the dishwasher. My son would have simply poured the milk in the box and probably tipped it up to eat it, and although I am all about conserving on the amount of dishes needing to be washed, I am a woman and even if I had thought of that I probably wouldn't do it. I searched for another bowl and found a small white one that would have worked, but digging a little further, I found a smaller crystal bowl and poured the cereal in. As so often in my life my attention was drawn to another task leaving the dry cereal unattended for a brief period. When I came back to eat my breakfast I could not find the bowl! The counter was cluttered with some things from the night before, but not nearly as bad as you might think given that I could not see that bowl anywhere! As often happens to me in these situations I immediately think of the most reasonable reason for my problem and I thought "dementia! I am getting dementia." My mind raced, would I need prescription medication or would an herbal supplement work. I began to list all the herbal supplements I knew that were good for memory loss but I couldn't remember any of them! And then I saw the bowl sitting on the stove and I was stymied. I had been focused on seeing the white bowl I had originally thought to use; I never could see the crystal bowl. I could not believe how much time I had spent looking for something that was right in front of my face and wondered what else in my life, having eyes, I was still not seeing.

The Jewish people had been waiting for a Messiah and they believed they knew exactly what the Messiah would look like, exactly how He would act and what He would do for them. They were staring their Redeemer right in the face and they never saw Him. Sometimes I think of those people and wonder "how is it possible that they did not recognize Jesus as their Savior?" In the scripture verse Jesus is admonishing his disciples, the very men who were traveling with Him, seeing his power at work and yet somehow they were still missing the truth of who He was.

How often do I long to see my Savior working in my life and I am so focused on what I think that should look like that I completely miss where He is working. I have heard it said if we want to move into the things of God, look to see where He is working and then move in there. Where are those places the Lord is working? He is working at the point of our need, but if I am too focused on looking for a burning bush or a parted sea I will completely miss it. I don't want to be frustrated by my relationship with Jesus, I don't want to spend time focused on what is not there when He is drawing me into deep places with Him and I cannot see it, because I am looking for an image of Him, and not the reality of Him.

Lord, I pray that you will open my eyes to see those places where you are working, that I would join you in a sacred partnership for your glory. Amen

Monica Mueller