The Father's Eyes

Yesterday, I talked about using one of Nouwen's questions in Bible study to open our hearts to where we can love more generously. That post brought to mind for me a video that I saw on Facebook.  It tells the story of a young business man who is hurrying through his morning, leaving home, driving a car, stopping to get coffee at a "Starbucks-like" place.  All through his morning, we hear his innermost thoughts.  In his mind, he sarcastically speaks to other drivers, other people in line at the coffeeshop.  He recites to himself how they are all getting in his way, how they are too slow, and how he is being inconvenienced by their presence.

While he sits and waits, impatiently, for his coffee, someone hands him a glasses case that says, "Get Service."  He opens it up and inside is a pair of glasses.  He puts them on, and he can see what problem each person is facing in his or her life, written in front of them.  He looks at the person who brings him coffee, and sees "fighting addiction" written out in the space in front of him. The young mother on the street, with her two children, have words that say, "Single mother, barely making ends meet."  A teenager has run away from home.  Instead of seeing how these people have inconvenienced him, he begins to see them with God's eyes, seeing what their problems are, and learning how he can be of service to them.

What if we had glasses like that?  What if we had eyes like that?  What if we could see other people's problems, and felt God's pull to love them more generously?  How would our world be different?  How would we be different?

It's easy for me to see how someone is causing me a problem.  It's harder to see beyond that and to find where I can love more generously, serve more fully.  There are times when I just don't want to do that, and yet God calls me to it.