Open Eyes, Open Ears, Open Hearts

 

 

A friend from the writer’s group to which Al and I belong asked one day how I got started writing a newspaper column. Although I had shared many of my articles with the group, I had never really explained the “what, where and why” of the “Good News!” column in the Porterville Recorder.

Al sends out the same article on Saturday mornings to family and friends via an email called “Good Medicine.” A couple of the people in the writer’s group receive the “Good Medicine” each week in addition to my reading it during our bimonthly meetings. That must be what piqued the curiosity of our friend, Paul Seibold.

 It began with occasional poems and stories for our monthly church newsletter in the 1990’s. The pastor encouraged me to write something every month and even suggested a name, “The View from the Pew!”

This was a good opportunity to begin sharing my faith through the written word, expressing what God was doing in my life. I wanted others to know that He was living, active, and that they could have a personal relationship with Him through faith in Jesus, His Son.

There was a newspaper in our rural community of Springville, California, whose editor became a friend of mine.  After my husband Al and I had lived in Springville for a number of years, I happened to ask the editor if she would be interested in publishing an occasional article in the paper, something that was out of my comfort zone, but something that I felt God might be leading me to do.

 Surprisingly, she was very positive and began running a monthly devotional column in the paper. Later, another newspaper debuted in Springville, causing the first one to be discontinued..

I thought my journalism days were over! But when the new editor asked if I would continue the column, the door was opened once again. Newspapers have quite a turnover, as I soon found out when that editor was asked to take over the “Porterville Recorder” in the larger neighboring city of Porterville.

Sadly, the Springville newspaper was shutdown permanently when she accepted the offer. It seemed to be the end of the column; however, in 2009 she contacted me again and asked if I would continue writing, this time a weekly column for the Recorder.

Another big step of faith! However, as long as the opportunity presented itself, both Al and I thought it would be the right thing to do. With God’s help the “Good News!” column has been published weekly, through holidays, travels, surgeries, personal crises and all of the ups and downs of life for the last fifteen years.

Writing the column has forced me to be aware of the things He is doing in my life, as well as in the lives of those around me. How easy it is to get caught up in my daily routine and forget about Him, something that we humans often seem to do.

There are many examples of this in the Bible. On the very day of his resurrection, two of Jesus’ followers were walking along, discussing the things that had happened to him when a stranger joined them. At his request, they began to share the events surrounding Jesus’ arrest, crucifixion, and the rumor of the empty tomb.

Little did they realize that the stranger was Jesus himself! He began explaining everything from the Scriptures. After they reached their destination, they invited him to stay with them.

When it was time to eat, Jesus gave thanks for the bread and broke it before giving it to them. The gospel writer, Luke, described what happened next:

 “Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other, ‘Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?’” (Luke 24:31-32).

Oh, to have open eyes to see the hand of God working in our lives, open ears to hear what He is speaking to us and open hearts to believe!

“Open my eyes, that I may see
Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands the wonderful key
That shall unclasp and set me free.

Silently now I wait for Thee,
Ready my God, Thy will to see,
Open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

*“Open My Eyes, That I May See,” Clara H. Scott 1895