Inspire

I have often thought it would be a blessing if each human being were stricken blind and deaf for a few days at some time during his early adult life. Darkness would make him more appreciative of sight. Silence would teach him the joys of sound.

Now and then I have tested my seeing friends to discover what they see. Recently I asked a friend, who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, what she had observed. "Nothing in particular," she replied.

How was it possible, I asked myself, to walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note? I, who cannot see, find hundreds of things to interest me through mere touch. I feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf. I pass my hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birch, or the rough, shaggy bark of a pine. In spring I touch the branches of trees hopefully in search of a bud, the first sign of awakening nature after her winter's sleep. Occasionally, if I am very fortunate, I place my hand gently on a small tree and feel the happy quiver of a bird in full song.

~Helen Keller

I am reading a very good book right now, and included within its pages was this amazing account.

Ponder that for just a second.

Now, me...see, I am already a very observant person. I inhale sunshine, I tarry under the dappled shade of an old, spreading oak tree. My heart smiles at each mockingbird that rushes from brush to bramble. I love God's creation. I appreciate it.

But think for just a second....all Helen Keller-isms aside....do we really observe, inhale, inspire, digest, and truly, truly appreciate everything that God has blessed us with. We can see. We can touch, feel, hear, smell, and communicate. We have health, we have our needs supplied. We have the love of our families.

We must take the time and "feel the delicate symmetry of a leaf".

Absolutely no denying it. I never want to be guilty of walking through the woods, or life, guilty of observing "nothing in particular".