Blindspot
Blindspot
“A salad with all the vegetables!” That’s my Subway lunch order. More often than I care to admit, I pop over to Subway throughout the week around noon. It can sometimes be a strain on the wallet, and to be honest, the meal is nothing to ride home about. So, what keeps me going back? The answer... Margie. A sweet older woman who wears her sanitation gloves past her elbows. She works the counter nearly everyday during the lunch hour. As she prepares my order, she lets me complain about the struggles that I am going through. On occasion, she’ll tell me about the current drama in her kid’s lives. Mostly though, it’s me venting. Without realizing it, I’ve almost turned my lunch break into therapy. It’s the relationship that we’ve developed that keeps me coming back for a visit.
Once the pandemic hit, I stopped going to see Margie for almost a year. Unlike most other relationships, I really didn’t miss Margie. At least, I wasn’t aware that I did. I felt a heavy loss when forced to skip family gatherings. There was a deep hole created not seeing my Messiah family. At some level, that hole still exists. Those losses were different because they were obvious and heavily felt. For Margie, however, I wasn’t even aware that I missed our conversations. The first time I walked into that Subway again, it was like a light switch went on and I suddenly became aware of how meaningful it was to have a nonjudgmental and empathetic listener in my life. Being unaware that something is wrong or missing is an example of a blindspot. Our lives are filled with them.
Do you ever feel a perceptually unsettled? It feels like something isn’t right, but on the surface, you have control over everything in front of you. I’ll bet, there’s a blindspot. Blindspots are problems, issues, or concerns that we have that are brought on by an unknown source. What makes them “blind” is only feeling the side effects while being unaware of the cause. It’s nearly impossible to address a problem when you can’t identity its root. Many may already know this, but spiritual directors, therapists, and pastors never really offer solutions. Rather, we are tools for helping people help themselves. Once you can name it and claim it, only then, are you able to address whatever is causing that uneasy feeling.
Blindspots not only exist in our personal lives, but they also exist on a societal level as well. Both as a society, and as individuals, we must fight against the impulse to say “there’s nothing wrong.” Of course there is, we know, because we can observe and experience the side effects. The sooner that we can be honest about our imperfection, the sooner God can work through us. We can only be transformed into something better through honesty. I’m not suggesting that all our problems will be solved, but trust me, our barriers are much easier to overcome when we are aware of what they are and where they come from.
The relationship I have with Margie is how God is calling the church to live. Messiah is a place where we can be open and honest about the struggles of life. Too often, we understand the church as a community of people that already has everything figured out. The church has become the last place anyone would ever talk about sin because, unfortunately, it is most often the church that is first in line to cast the stone. My sisters and brothers, the time has come for the church to channel our inner Margie. It’s time to listen. We cannot be the balm that the world so desperately needs, helping society identity its blindspots, if we’re not willing to hear what the world is saying. Because we know about the love of Christ, we have so much potential. It is God who will soften our hearts. God will lay down our stones. God will reveal to us a love that is radiant, unending, and filled with Grace. New life for us is just around the corner, I can feel it!
With extra ranch!
Pr. Lucas McSurley
