The Work of My Hands in His Midst

December 5, 2008

Friday of the First Week of Advent

On that day the deaf shall hear the words of a book; And out of gloom and darkness, the eyes of the blind shall see. The lowly will ever find joy in the LORD, and the poor rejoice in the Holy One of Israel. Isaiah 29:18-19

When he entered the house, the blind men approached him and Jesus said to them, “Do you believe that I can do this?” “Yes, Lord,” they said to him. Then he touched their eyes and said, “Let it be done for you according to your faith.” Matthew 9:28-29

Piety

All around us we see the arrogance and the tyranny of money and the greed and hard heartedness in people. Such attitudes have once again proven deadly. We pray for the repose of the soul of Jdimytai Damour, a temporary worker for Wal-Mart who was killed in the Black Friday rush to bargains, and for his family who are left behind in mourning during what is supposed to be a joyous season. We pray for all the workers who are marginalized. Help them assert their dignity and avoid being caught in the gears of a system which is crashing around them, stomping out their humanity. Help us to recognize that everyone is the work of your hands because you are the potter and we are the clay. Amen.

Study

Isaiah tells us that the blind shall see. What would we think if we were there to hear his prophecy? Would we expect some talented surgeon, a Dr. Michael DeBakey of the eyes to come to save the blind through medical science? Would we dismiss this statement with the rolling of our eyes as the illogical ramblings of a madman? (Yeah. Right. Sure. The blind will see.)

In the primitive world of the eighth century when Isaiah lived, surely no one expected anything like modern science…the best they could hope for was a traveling magician with ointments and lotions to apply.

Isaiah was not talking about medicine, vitamins or some huckster with a shelf of herbs…he was talking about faith. Not some ethereal concept of faith…but a deep personal faith which will be the seed for the restoration of sight in the blind. Faith is what restored sight to the two blind men. And when their prayers were answered, they could no more keep quite than could the town crier with the latest news.

Action

Let’s use Advent to increase our faith and cure our own blindness to the ills in ourselves and in our society. Sometimes, it may take the words of someone whose days are limited on this earth to truly open our eyes. This week, ESPN is commemorating “Jimmy V” Week to raise money for cancer research in honor of the late Jim Valvano, former coach of the Rutgers University and then the North Carolina State University basketball team. Here is just a few of the enlightening comments shared by “Jimmy V” two months before he died of cancer:

And when people say to me how do you get through life or each day, it's the same thing. To me, there are three things we all should do every day. We should do this every day of our lives. Number one is laugh. You should laugh every day. Number two is think. You should spend some time in thought. And number three is, you should have your emotions moved to tears, could be happiness or joy. But think about it. If you laugh, you think, and you cry, that's a full day. That's a heck of a day. You do that seven days a week, you're going to have something special.

* * * * *

I talked about my family, my family's so important. People think I have courage. The courage in my family are my wife Pam, my three daughters, here, Nicole, Jamie, LeeAnn, my mom, who's right here too. And...that screen is flashing up there thirty seconds like I care about that screen right now, huh? I got tumors all over my body. I'm worried about some guy in the back going thirty seconds, huh?

* * * * *

I just got one last thing, I urge all of you, all of you, to enjoy your life, the precious moments you have. To spend each day with some laughter and some thought, to get you're emotions going. To be enthusiastic every day and [as] Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "Nothing great could be accomplished without enthusiasm" -- to keep your dreams alive in spite of problems whatever you have. The ability to be able to work hard for your dreams to come true, to become a reality.

* * * * *

I know, I gotta go, I gotta go, and I got one last thing and I said it before, and I'm gonna say it again: Cancer can take away all my physical ability. It cannot touch my mind; it cannot touch my heart; and it cannot touch my soul. And those three things are going to carry on forever.

Take a few minutes to listen to the whole speech by “Jimmy V”.

Add “Jimmy V’s” Daily Three to your “To Do” list every day:

1. Laugh
2. Think
3. Cry

That’s a heckuva day. Imagine how those two blind men felt when they could see. I bet there were a lot of laughing, thinking and crying in Galilee that day.

“Don’t give up. Don’t ever give up.”

James Thomas Anthony Valvano

March 10, 1946–April 28, 1993