VISION RESTRICTION: Eyes of Empathy

My glasses broke (again) this week!

I have now ashamedly gone through 4 pairs in 3 years and although my poor vision is not considered a disability without any lenses, my sight is significantly impaired.

I can not read or write anything!

Computer, documents, text messages...

Am I using shampoo or conditioner? I can't tell!

I can't do my job!

So everything stopped on Tuesday and I walked my blurry way to the mall with my broken frame and looked at the world differently....(again)!!

My eyes strained.

Everything so smeared and indistinct.

Aching muscles blinking rapidly trying to adjust.

Some uneasy revelations:

How difficult it is for us to truly see with open eyes.

Understanding another's view.

Adjusting our focus to learn another perspective without dismissal.

The fog disorientates and we are blinded by our own visual preference that can not adjust.

Empathy is described as understanding or feeling what another person is experiencing from their perspective; walking a few miles in their shoes...

I would add that it requires to see with open eyes through their lenses and realise our own distorted bias....

Easier to say when you consider your friends....

Challenging to accept with opponents!

Am I willing to even look?

Refusal reveals!

Removing our lenses and attempting to really see through a different prescription brings deeper understanding & humility.

Less criticism!

More kindness!

The blurred perspective is awkward, uncomfortable, confusing but it brings so much clarity to my own impairment and shifts my heart to align with mercy.

" Having eyes do you not see? " Mark 8:18