Purpose

Blind Sight

One of the crazy things about language is that often times common phrases, when considering arduously, don’t make sense. For example – “jumbo shrimp.” How can something that’s quantified by its smallness, become big? Or, as one of my friends would say “true love.” Can it really be love if its not true? Isn’t therefore the phrase redundant?

One of the crazy things about God is that He also sometimes doesn’t make sense. At least not to us. Whether its because His are so high or are ways are so small (Isaiah 55:9), He has an amazing way of extracting the least-considered consequences. He just as a knack for causing things to turn out different than one would expect.

Paul’s life is a prime example of this. Before he had his heavenly name change, Saul was the persecutor of the church. He had studied the Law and knew what it taught, and sought to merit out its justice. On the road to Damascus he was struck by blindness and it was only then that he could truly see. Stopped in the road, he found the Way.

Oftentimes in life things don’t go the way I think they should. I’m glad that God is the type who doesn’t always require that things make (human) sense.

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Purpose

Unnoticed

Some people, when asked what super power they would most like to have, choose invisibility. Others of us don’t need to wish for this attribute because its a normal part of our lives. This isn’t a bad thing necessarily. As Carrie Underwood recently referred to herself, some of us are “blenders.” We’re not people that you would pick out of a crowd. Its not that we’re literally invisible, we’re just easy not to pay attention to. Recently I was out to dinner with some friends (all male, coincidently) and when I left the table I realized that I wasn’t sure that the conversation would have been any different had I not been there. Except for one of them realizing mid-way through ordering that they should have let me go first, I was pretty much table garnish. For whatever reason, I just don’t command a lot of attention – unless I’m playing fooseball or issuing my blistering whistle. And the fact is, I take a lot of comfort in the lack of attention that I receive. Once a friend remarked that it was his goal to make sure that I didn’t languish in obscurity. I retorted obscurity was kind of my goal. I am one of those people who enjoy the background.

This lack of identification has many benefits. One of the reasons that I don’t stand out is because physically I’m perfectly average. This means that shopping online for clothes is a cinch; my purchases don’t have to conform to a certain defining physiological attribute. My lack of notoriety also means that I have a lot of opportunity for observation. It may be why I’m so sensitive to others’ state of being; why I send e-mails of encouragement at the slightest hint of discord. Going unnoticed means that I notice a lot about others. It’s probably one of the reasons I write these blogs.

However, sometimes I take my ability to blend too far. Sometimes I notice a need and I don’t act to meet it. Sometimes I hear of someone’s pain and not wanting to intrude, I walk away. I don’t speak because I am afraid I won’t be heard not remembering that obedience is required regardless of impact. While my lack of action may go unnoticed by the world, my Maker will surely take note, and next time He may not give me the opportunity.

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