Eyes

I have been reminded how important our eyes are.  Without them, what goes on in a conversation is often mundane.  While the content occasionally surprises, in the norm, eyes make each dialogue different.  A business author suggests that our face cannot tell a lie.  Experience suggests that your soul knows truth when you see it.  Words are not enough.
 
Mumbai has moved on from the horrific attacks that struck several parts of the city.  After going to the scenes, I can tell of repair buildings, a lingering facade hiding what remains on the only viable sushi restaurant in town, and ongoing construction.  I could also talk of a three-level security check before anyone can enter one hotel.  I might suggest that the guards seem weary and listless from unending searches. 
 
The haunting reminders show.  I walk into the halls of the Oberoi Shopping Center and greet tired-eye shopkeepers.  My solo walk echoes off the granite walls.  Every window has a sale sign.  At the end of a corridor, I turn left only to find myself completely and utterly alone.
 
As we drive past Victoria Train Station, I am struck by the lack of any mementoes.  Yesterday’s witnesses have faded and one is left with a sense of ignored busyness.  In the past, the press did not pay much attention to the victims in this location.  The normalcy of it all reminds how consistent this ignorance remains.  In contrast to the security in the big-cash generating hotels, Victoria’s petty cash user does not warrant safe keeping.
 
We need to see more than words and numbers in our community and world.  We need to look others in the eyes and know within our hearts that they are individuals in your family and mine. 
 
In an old encounter, one community needed to deliver a difficult message.  Their introduction to the messengers is a good reminder to us of our standing; “We've sent them to confirm in a face-to-face meeting with you what we've written.” (Acts 15.27)  We are God’s eyes, hand, feed, and voice.  This package makes a difference.