Give Me Eyes to See
Remembering to be amazed by new vistas and fresh vantage points
My youngest daughter, who just turned five this summer, beholds the vantages of the United States and Europe with the quiet exclamation, “That is a nice view.”
Sometimes this remark comes at the pinnacle of a child-friendly hike but we rarely climb to the top of any towers or spires to admire the places that we explore on our many travels. There are just too many stairs for those little feet but somehow she has still grasped this notion that there is something to celebrate in this new vista.
I only started to notice this tiny wonder’s revelation this summer. She says it without any fanfare. It doesn’t sound like she’s repeating anything that her parents have voiced. It seems to come from within her. She sees something new in this place, something she hasn’t seen before and it is something to behold.
Behold is one of my favorite churchy words. It evokes poetic hope and some hint of the holy that can’t quite be possible. Still, there is something to experience. There is something to witness that is beyond what our eyes can truly take in.
Our vision is blurry or perhaps we are just not looking hard enough. We have decided to focus on other things so that we miss that nice view that only children can truly behold.
We are too distracted. There is just so much that distracts us.
Amazing things are happening all around us.
We just can’t see it as we busy ourselves worrying about what hasn’t yet happened. We miss what is right before us and so the Miracle-Maker can only ask, as he does after the feeding of the five thousand, “Are your hearts hardened? Do you have eyes and fail to see? Do you have ears and fail to hear? And do you not remember?” (Mark 8:17b-18, NRSV).
While I’m more inclined to focus on all that has hardened my heart (and it’s a longer list than I would like), it’s that last question that really grabs me. I hear it voiced by my five year old every time she takes in a new vantage point. She doesn’t need to remember. She knows this wisdom deep in her soul. She hasn’t forgotten but I have.
I have forgotten to look at the world around me. To really look without layering what I’m seeing without expectation but instead to take it in with all of my senses. To actually behold and search for what amazes.
I am too rushed and focused on what else might happen next. I’m not really looking. I’m allowing my eyes to glance over views and vistas but I am not allowing myself to remember what it even means to be amazed.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel believed that it was the very task of the spiritual life. We are to be so bold as to wake up in wonder of the world without taking anything for granted. Making room for all that doesn’t compute with our experience and knowledge allows for that possibility of true wonder.
That is the thing about amazing things. They remind us of what could be and reorient us to what we need most. It challenges us to open our eyes and ears for all that dares us to dream and keeps looking for still more that might surprise us.
Memory is a funny thing that cannot always be trusted. I’m wondering about that as I listen to Jesus’ question. Still, memories orient us and guide us. They take hold of us and allow us to become who we are. Wonder about how your memories have shaped you as you listen to this conversation.
Keep a thought journal throughout one day or even multiple days on an actual piece of paper or in the notes app on your phone. Without judgment, notice what occupies your mind in each hour of the day. Write down each thought in bullet-form and at the end of the day review what you have observed of your thoughts. Where is the holy calling for your attention? What do you most need to remember right now?
If you find yourself curious to learn more about Abraham Joshua Heschel’s notion of radical amazement, watch this wonderful video featuring the wise and wonderful Rabbi Dayna Ruttenberg. Or you might turn to the rabbi prophet himself and read his own words in his Essential Writings.
