I live, work, eat, breath, and sleep in Seattle. Living in a densely populated city, I am constantly surrounded by those that are less fortunate than me to a point that it makes me numb to the need. I have perfected the eyes pointed to the ground walk to work or plugged in daze on the bus so that I tune everything out.
People are crazy... smelly... weird... unsafe... It warrants me not being present and hurrying past. Right?
This past Sunday, my church launched a four week program called Eyes To See. It is about being open to the needs of those less fortunate around me and responding to it. They have asked us to focus on four people that we can help. It can be a grand gesture or as simple as a smile to acknowledge their existence. To remind us of this conscious effort, we are wearing friendship bracelets.
On Monday, just a day after agreeing to participate, I left the office to get lunch and immediately ran into a woman with her son asking for money for the bus. Without thinking, I told them I didn't have any change and kept moving. I made it 3 blocks before I remembered just what Pastor Jack spoke about the day prior. I didn't have change but I did have a bus pass so I doubled back only to find they were gone.
Within 24 hours, I had already returned to tuning people out.
I have gotten to good at forgetting the people who are overlooked or unwanted. These next weeks are going to be a challenge of changing my behavior and attitude as I strive for eyes to see. I know that as I seek to be more like God and see people as he see them he will reveal the needs and show they are closer than I realize.
