Now I See

When I was young, I thought like a child. Now that I am old, I still think like a child but I have had enough sense not to act on everything I think about.

I heard the condition described like this: You can't keep a bird from flying over your head, but you can keep it from building a nest in your hair.

I have learned enough life lessons in my growing up years to the point where I question nearly everything I do, before I do it.

That's where phrases like 'look before you leap' and 'think ahead' come from. Jesus tells us to 'examine the cost' in Luke 14:28. In the Book of Acts we read about the Bereans who "examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.' (Acts 17: 11)

When I was a child, God was the last thing I thought about. I was only interested in what I wanted to do and think. Now, God consumes almost ALL of my thinking and doing. So, what happened?

"When I was a child, I talked like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child. When I became a man, I put the ways of childhood behind me." - 1 Corinthians 13:11

Simply saying 'I grew up' doesn't answer the question. 'I matured' doesn't do it either. The answer to 'what changed' can be found in John 9, verse 25.

"One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!”

How does someone, who was blind since birth, know he is blind unless someone tells him? And when that person suddenly sees, does he or she ever want to return to his or her blindness? No!

We who have been given the gift of spiritual sight, the Holy Spirit, would we ever want to return the gift? No!

So, what do we do then? How should we respond to such a wonderful gift? 

First and foremost, we should praise God! Second, we should go and tell others the wonderous things that God has done for us. Third, we should live and act in such a way that people will know whose we are simply by observing us.

No one's perfect, aside from God. But we can try to reflect God's love and grace to all that we meet.