A Mother's Musings: Not Seeing, Nor Hearing

In her current state, Addie is the physical embodiment of this scriptural passage from Matthew 13:14.

 And in [her] is fulfilled the prophecy of Esaias, which saith, By hearing ye shall hear, and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see, and shall not perceive:

Ever the teacher, Addie is a physical reflection of my spiritual state.  I must ask myself, “What am I not seeing? What am I not hearing?”   

What spiritual seizures are keeping me from opening my eyes and ears? Like Addie, the Lord has blessed me with all the ‘tools’ to see and to hear things of the spiritual realm—His work.  Remember, He says, “Wherefore, verily I say unto you that all things unto me are spiritual, and not at any time have I given unto you a law which was temporal" (D&C 29:31). 

I, however, must do my own therapy to truly learn that the things of this world are merely blurs and blobs—it is only through spiritual senses that the blurs and blobs will translate into meaningful context, helping me understand my purpose in this life and in the world to come.

For Addie’s therapy, we must get rid of all distractions.  We use a flashlight to illuminate one object of one color.  We move it in front of her eyes and shine the light on it to help her discern it.  If she registers that she sees it, we lift her elbow to touch it, so she can feel that something is there and gain one more aspect of it.   To help her overcome deafness, we put hearing aids in her ears.  We also give her context clues by touch to tell her, “medicine time” “diaper time” “bath time”, etc.  We try to get through to her however we can through touch and aids. With time and with persistence, Addie will learn to overcome her blindness and deafness.

Likewise, if I am to overcome my own spiritual blindness and deafness, I must do the same type of dedicated therapy.  1) Minimize distractions. 2) Keep my focus on one object (Jesus Christ). 3) Learn to discern the light shining in the darkness, which illuminates spiritual truths such as my identity as a child of a loving, compassionate Father God. And,  4) when I register something spiritual, I must reach for it . . . record it, ponder it, LOOK to God and LIVE.

So—it looks like Addie isn't the only one in need of daily therapy. Search! Ponder! Pray! Act! Record!