Open My Eyes Let Me See

My granddaughter helped wrap my Christmas gift yesterday. Without my glasses on, I could see that she had decorated it with lots of her own beautiful scribble marks, and the purple ribbon she chose is her signature color, because her name is Violet. But it wasn’t until I had my glasses on looking at the image of it this morning that I realized that those were birds on the wrapping paper, and not finger print paint smudges randomly smattered throughout the design. It made me think of how easily our vision can be clouded with time and through the lens of our own experience. I wish there was a pair of glasses we could each put on to see each other with more clarity. A way through all the distorted beliefs and the barriers around our hearts and lives intended to keep others out so we can feel safe in our own way of thinking and being. Maybe this is what the song means when we sing “Light of the world, you stepped down into darkness. Open my eyes and let me see.”

Christmas is a mixed bag for most families. As much joy as there is pain. We try in our own broken ways to hold onto ourselves and our own belief systems, and think we’ve failed if there isn’t perfect peace and harmony through it all. Instead of throwing open wide the door to the manger so that all who are lost and lonely and broken find their way to a seat, we guard the house and barricade the doors against those who don’t think like us, or act like us, or threaten to disrupt our own harmony.  In this way, we contribute to the great divide even when we thought our intentions were good. I am as guilty as anyone.

How then do we move through this mess of a season, where the split in the country is a macro view to the fractures in individual families and hearts? To know how to discern between necessary separation from toxic behaviors and the tendency to over react and shut out any idea we disagree with instead of engaging in dialogue to try to bridge the great divide?

I haven’t any answers today. Only questions and the plea from that one line in a song.

Light of the world you stepped down into darkness, open my eyes let me see.