Are WE blind?

I got this as an e-mail yesterday:

There was a blind girl who hated herself because she was blind.

She hated everyone, except her loving boyfriend. He was always there for her. She told her boyfriend, 'If I could only see the world, I will marry you.'

One day, someone donated a pair of eyes to her.

When the bandages came off, she was able to see everything, including her boyfriend.

He asked her, 'Now that you can see the world, will you marry me?'

The girl looked at her boyfriend and saw that he was blind. The sight of his closed eyelids shocked her. She hadn't expected that. The thought of looking at them the rest of her life led her to refuse to marry him.

Her boyfriend left her in tears and days later wrote a note to her saying: 'Take good care of your eyes, my dear, for before they were yours, they were mine.'

This is how the human brain often works when our status changes. Only a very few remember what life was like before, and who was always by their side in the most painful situations.

I was really quite touched by this and forwarded it to a friend....this was her reply:

"Wow...how thought provoking that is...but then if we only think of Jesus dying on the cross...isn't it really the same??"

Her reply has been as thought-provoking to me as the e-mail because I didn't think of it in those terms. I didn't put a spiritual spin on it at all. At face value, I just couldn't imagine, as the girl, what it would feel like to finally see, then as the other person, knowing the gift I'd given, have them reply with nothing but rejection. How heartbreaking would that be?

But isn't this how Jesus feels and how God feels when we knowingly reject the gift He gave us through Jesus? Look how much He sacrificed for us and how often we may not be as mindful of His gift as we should be EVERY DAY! I realize that many, indeed most, of us in this blogring are Christians and have a walk with the Lord, but this convicted me on a different level and made me think about how many people there are in the world that reject Jesus and dismiss the realities as 'impossible.' It really made me view the world outside the 'bubble' that I live in, there is no doubt. I mean, can't you just hear the Lord saying, 'Take good care of Jesus, my dear, for before He was yours, He was mine.'

There was more to the original e-mail and it is as follows:

Life Is a Gift
Today before you say an unkind word -Think of someone who can't speak.
Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.
Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.
Today before you complain about life -Think of someone who went too early to heaven. Before you complain about your children - Think of someone who desires children but they're barren.
Before you argue about your dirty house someone didn't clean or sweep - Think of the people who are living in the streets.
Before whining about the distance you drive - Think of someone who walks the same distance with their feet.
And when you are tired and complain about your job - Think of the unemployed, the disabled, and those who wish they had your job.
But before you think of pointing the finger or condemning another - Remember that not one of us is without sin and we all answer to one MAKER.
And when depressing thoughts seem to get you down - Put a smile on your face and thank GOD you're alive and can make a difference!

As Easter draws near, my prayer is that we ALL slow down and take the time to know and experience in our heart what we are celebrating...the most amazingly spectacular, meaningful gift of all for those of us who believe....victory over death and eternity in heaven!

AWESOME! :-)