(This a collaboration of sorts with Richard Fairchild)
Today I’d like to tell you a story about a girl named Anne. Anne couldn't see very well - but the thing was, she didn't know it. No one knew it -not her mother or her father, her grandmother or grandfather - not even her brother or her friends knew that Anne couldn't see very well.
Anne thought that everything in the world had fuzzy edges – because that is the way things looked to her. She didn't know that other children could see further than her. She thought that everyone saw just what she saw. But as she got older her mother began to wonder why Anne always sat so close to the TV. Her grandfather noticed that when she held a book she held it really close to her face. When she began school her teacher noticed that Anne couldn't see the words on the blackboard very easily.
“C’mon, Anne,” said her dad, “we’re going to see the eye doctor.”
The doctor said, "Anne, you need glasses", and in a few short days she got a brand new pair of glasses.
She was a bit scared that the other kids would tease her because she had to wear glasses, but when she put them on -- WOW - the world looked different. Nothing had fuzzy edges. She could read a book even if she held it away from her face. She could see her mothers face clearly, even when she was way across the room.
It was great.
That Sunday at church Anne smiled as her eyes followed the bible readings as Mrs. Harris read them.
That night as Anne and her mom were getting reading for bed and to say their prayers her mom asked,
“How do the glasses feel?”
“Wonderful,” replied Anne, “I was especially glad to have them at church.”
“Why’s that?”
“I could read along with the people reading the bible, and I learned something about these glasses,” replied Anne.
“What did you learn?”
“That my glasses are a lot like Jesus.”
“How can glasses be like Jesus?” asked her mom, laughing.
“The story we read was about when Jesus died, his friends thought that he was gone forever. They didn't know what to do. They were very sad. They couldn't see things clearly because they were so mixed up and upset. Two of Jesus' friends were sadly walking back to their home in the village of Emmaus when another traveler joined them. They didn't recognize who it was, but they told him all about what had happened to Jesus and how sad they were. When it was evening they arrived at their home and invited the stranger to stay with them and have supper. When the traveler broke bread and blessed it, something happened. It was if they had put on my glasses. Suddenly they saw something clearly that they hadn't seen before even though they had been looking right at it most of the day. They realized that the stranger was really Jesus - alive and well, and with them. They ran back to Jerusalem to tell their friends.”
“Wow, Anne. I hadn’t thought about it that way before,” said her mom smiling.
Then they said a prayer like this as we do now,
Dear God, thank you for Jesus. Thank you that he helps us see you more clearly. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment