The Gift of Sight

Last night I had a Literature reading assignment on the author Fanny Crosby (1820 - 1915). As you know she was blind since she was 6 weeks old. That didn't keep her from doing the thing she liked best - writing. When she was only 8, she composed her first poem. She wrote over 8000 hymns and more than 1000 secular poems. Crosby also had a phenominal memory. Once, she thought up 40 poems over a period of a few years without ever writing them down, then later quoted them to someone to pen down. Imagine remembering all that!

In class today I learned something that was rather suprising to me. Crosby wrote so many words to songs we sing in church now, but never really got saved until she was 30 years old. Think of how much more the words to her poems and songs meant to Crosby after she trusted in Christ. Before they were just words; now they had feeling and touched her heart as well as thousands of others.

She had every reason to be bitter and rebellious. Instead, she recognized her blindness to be a blessing. "I believe the greatest blessing the Creator ever bestowed on me was when He perimitted my external vision to be closed." How we take our vision for granted! Each morning when we wake up we are able to see the sunrise, see the colors of the outdoors. When we go to school or to work we are able to read assignments given to us. Many don't like to read and find it a waste of time. Just put yourself in Crosby's place, and think of how much she desperately wanted to read. Yes, she had brail, but that takes time to learn. Next time you go to the store or the library, tell me how many books you see that are in brail form ... not many.

I also watched an episode of Doctor Quinn Medicine Woman. Little Bryan(left) jumped from a tree, hitting his head. Dr. Mike checked him over and found nothing wrong. A few days later he went over to help with the building plans of the new school house when he noticed his sight getting blurry. In an instant he couldn't see anything. Bryan was carried back to Dr. Mike, and eventually had surgery done on his head. For the few days that Bryan couldn't see he was very calm, but kept asking when the lights could go back on again; why he couldn't see his Ma or Colleen or Matthew.

It took a couple of days before Bryan became concious again, and the first thing he saw was the new schoolhouse the town had built. By the end of the movie I was in tears. The pain Bryan had to go through touched my heart and made me realize how blessed I am to have my sight.

Don't take sight for granted. God gave it to you: use it wisely. Don't fill your brain with the awful sights of this world. Read God's Word; if you are musically gifted, use that gift for God's glory. Read biographies of other Christians. Above all, marvel at the beautiful creation around you. God created it all in 6 days so we could enjoy it for a lifetime!