{"id":700,"date":"2018-04-04T10:29:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-04T10:29:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/?p=700"},"modified":"2018-04-05T05:53:21","modified_gmt":"2018-04-05T05:53:21","slug":"that-my-eyes-may-be-opened","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/2018\/04\/04\/that-my-eyes-may-be-opened\/","title":{"rendered":"That my eyes may be opened…"},"content":{"rendered":"

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I declared the Christmas season of 2010 to be a time of service, setting a goal to perform at least one act of service each day.\u00a0 I marveled at the opportunities for service the Lord placed in my path when I asked for His help in fulfilling my goal.<\/p>\n

One afternoon, realizing that I had not yet found an opportunity to serve, I prayed that the Lord would give me eyes to see someone in need.<\/p>\n

Shortly after my prayer I got into my car and headed out to get my kids from school.\u00a0 Rounding the corner by my house, I noticed my neighbor had slid off the icy road into a shallow ditch.<\/p>\n

Seeing that she was already on her cell phone and knowing that my kids were waiting for me and that I lacked the skills needed to pull her from the ditch, I waved to her with a sympathetic furrow of my brow as I drove past.<\/p>\n

“Look deeper.”\u00a0 The spirit then whispered.\u00a0 “What can you do to help?”<\/p>\n

Turning my car around I pulled up beside her and asked if I could pick her son up from school.<\/p>\n

During the LDS General Conference this Easter weekend (or GenCon as my kids like to call it) I was asked to minister to those in need.\u00a0 I was asked to abandon plans and assignments and to serve as Jesus taught.\u00a0 I was asked to look deeper and to ask myself what I could do to help.<\/p>\n

I felt excited about this call and hopeful that I would learn to walk as Jesus walked, succoring the weak, lifting up the hands which hang down and strengthening the feeble knees.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

This morning–already elbow deep in my plans for today–I received a phone call.\u00a0 “Would you like to go to the store with me this morning?”\u00a0 I was asked.\u00a0 “It’s senior discount day and I can get you some things if you need groceries.”<\/p>\n

“Oh thank you.”\u00a0 I said.\u00a0 “But I don’t really need anything right now and I’m trying to tackle my dirty dishes.”<\/p>\n

A few minutes later, understanding pierced my heart and tears filled my eyes as I realized that I had failed to look deeper.\u00a0 I saw my plans for the day, I saw my dirty dishes and I saw that I didn’t really need anything from the store.\u00a0 But what I didn’t see was what I could have done to help.<\/p>\n

Had I looked deeper I would have recognized that the offer to take me to the store was really a request. A request made by someone with a lonely heart, looking for company.<\/p>\n

Though today I failed to see, I’m still hopeful that God will continue to open my eyes as I learn to walk as Jesus walked, succoring the weak, lifting up the hands which hang down and strengthening the feeble knees.<\/p>\n

So if you happen to be free next week, come see me at the grocery store. I’ll be the one getting in on that Senior Discount while enjoying the company of a friend.<\/p>\n

And Jesus stood still, and called them, and said, What will ye that I shall do unto you?
\nThey say unto him, Lord, that our eyes may be opened.
\nSo Jesus had compassion on them, and touched their eyes: and immediately their eyes received sight, and they followed him.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I declared the Christmas season of 2010 to be a time of service, setting a goal to perform at least one act of service each day.\u00a0 I marveled at the opportunities for service the Lord placed in my path when I asked for His help in fulfilling my goal. One afternoon, realizing that I had … Continue reading “That my eyes may be opened…”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-700","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=700"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":706,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/700\/revisions\/706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=700"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=700"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordsforthisday.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=700"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}