The Blind Spot, What If?

 

A colleague once shared a video that showed a father run his car over his child.

The father was driving in from work and as he maneuvered his car so as to park, his young son (about 3 or 4 years old) ran out of the house to meet him. The car is an SUV so the man doesn't see the boy and the tyre climbed the son who laid down screaming. It was the mother who walked out at the time that ran to her husband, gesturing for him to reverse as their son was trapped under the tyre.

I couldn't watch the video and only listened to others talk about it. Watching it would have given me nightmares as I do not have the heart for blood, violence, torture or horror. 

My colleague who shared the video said the baby survived but we all agreed that the father may develop a phobia for driving as a result of the trauma. It is not his fault though, his baby was in his blind spot.

A blind spot is a place in which people or objects are invisible even though they are there.

Days later, I listened to a message by Bishop T.D. Jakes titled 'The Blind Spot' and it made me realize that just like the father, I too may have people being crushed and smothered because they are in my blind spot.

It could be a blind spot created by my beliefs, values and experiences. So I may treat people unfairly without knowing it just because I'm minding my business and staying true to me.

It brought so many questions to the fore, like, if my faith were to be measured by how I treat people, would I still be worthy?

Has my spirituality saturated my behaviour that my vertical now overwhelms my horizontal so I focus on what I think is right and do not care if others suffer because of my actions?

When after singing in worship, lifting up holy hands and praying in tongues I am mean to others, do I reflect God’s love?

If someone goes on their knees tonight asking God to take out their enemies, would I be that enemy?

What if while castigating people in the name of God, I am destroying his elect - the ones he died for?

If my love were weighed on a scale, would it be mature? Perfect enough to cast out fear? Pure enough to make me blameless before God's judgement seat?

Or do I have selective amnesia? Focusing on the glaring flaws of others and forgetting that not so long ago I was enmeshed in the dirt and mud of sin?

Do I reflect the mercy I have been given?

Have I forgotten that mercy doesnt end with me but begins with me?

Do I hold others hostage for being human? Do I love things more than people?

I could be saved and still be wrong - so I have learned, but am I honest enough to admit that I can be wrong or that having good sense of judgement doesn't guarantee right(eous)ness?

Am I living for love?

Am I freely giving the same grace I have received? The same amazing grace that gives me the audacity to say:

Once I was lost but now I am found.

Once I was blind, now I can see.

Once I was hurt, now I have been healed.

Once I was broken now I am whole.

Can I give of this grace without compromising my values, my faith, my essence (ME)?

If I step out of myself to see me as others do, what will I see? If I shift my focus to look from others’ point of view, would I be horrified?

What if like the Dad in the video my former colleague shared, I have run over the ones I should love and cannot even see them gasp in pain because I am operating from a blind spot?

What if it is I who desperately needs grace, who needs to step out, who needs to see the light? What if?