Picture of the Day: 

A really cool shot of a park full of lights at Christmastime.

Quote of the Day: 

"Men are born with two eyes, but only one tongue, in order that they should see twice as much as they say."

-Charles Caleb Colton

Hello, dear readers! For those of you still drudging through school, rest assured! The end is close and we shall all be free! (It truly is the only thing that keeps me going!)

(Boy, that was a lot of exclamation points. Now, I believe, my excitement has been...lessened by my punctuation. At least to a reader.)

I really cannot give you too much of an update today; I have a tentative prologue to my pirate novel, though I have not had time to do much else. And this I would not even count as progress, since I am not quite sure I like it enough to keep it. We shall see how things work out with this.

I will not lie and say the last seven days have been wonderful. I am stressed beyond what I can take, and it is taking a toll on me and my performance in school. Nonetheless, I am trying to stay cheerful and spirited so that I may get through with the least amount of anguish possible. So, last night, to calm myself down after an attack of nerves and stress, I turned on my iPod and played some MercyMe.

If you are unfamiliar with them, they are a fantastic Christian band. Well, I was scrolling through available songs and I settled on my favorite: "In You". Now, I was hoping to put up a YouTube video with the song playing, but it is not up online--or at least not a version that I like. Instead, I will put up the lyrics. 

I put my hope in You

I lay my life in palm of your hand

I'm constantly drawn to You Lord

In ways I cannot comprehend

It's the Creator calling the created

The Maker beckoning the made

The bride finding what she's always waited for

When we find ourselves that day

[CHORUS:]

In You where the hungry feast at the table

The blind frozen by colors in view

The lame will dance, They'll dance for they are able

And the weary find rest

Oh, the weary find rest in You

It's no secret that we don't belong here

Those set apart by the grace of You

And we look for the day when we go to a place

Where the old becomes brand new

[CHORUS:]

In You where the hungry feast at the table

The blind frozen by colors in view

The lame will dance, They'll dance for they are able

And the weary find rest

Oh, the weary find rest in You

(Please note; I took these from a lyric site, so more than likely, there are a few errors. I really encourage you to buy the song on iTunes.)

Anyway.

I listened to it. On repeat. Like....six or seven times. I love this song. I cannot even begin to express how much this song means to me. But, that is not quite what this blog entry is about. 

The chorus to me is the most resonating part of the song. The images they use are fantastic, and it brings a great relief and beauty to the listener. Who cannot rejoice thinking about the hungry being fed at a feasting table or the lame dancing because they finally can stand? Last night, though, when I was listening, I was captivated by the line "The blind frozen by colors in view." Wow. Can you even imagine? 

I don't know why my mind trailed down this pathway (perhaps it is the curse of being a creative writer, perhaps it is my own desire for empathy and compassion), nonetheless, I asked myself this: what would I tell my own child if they were blind? See, to me, that is probably the saddest thing mentioned in the song. If you cannot walk, you can still get around nowadays without too much you cannot do. A friend or family member can (and in most cases will) help you in need. Hunger is horrendous, but you can still understand beauty. Now, please understand I am not making light of these two things; they are horrible and I wish wholly that they would be gone. But: the blind cannot even see God's work on this world. 

Never see a sunrise, never see a flower, never see the ocean or a flying flock of birds. How many times have we, as seeing, been taken in awe or lost our breath and the sight of something? How much someone who is blind misses!

Then, I considered what I would tell someone (in my head, it was a small child) who asked me why God would have made them different. Why God, who loves and cares for them, would make it so that they could not see.

The answer in my head was something along the lines of this: 

"Hunny, God thinks you are special, and he is saving your eyes for the best color, the best landscape, and the best views. When you get to heaven, you will be one of the few that are there that the only color you will ever remember is the purest and loveliest."

I don't know if it would help me, if I were blind. But the thought struck me as beautiful. Being saved for something better than anything this world can offer! 

I may try to express this in a short story. Maybe a mother is picking up her little girl from school after a particularly trying day where the girl is very frustrated and cannot understand why she is different. 

I don't know; maybe I will do nothing with it at all. But it was completely worth the contemplation.