We can get so used to something that we become blind to it and even stop being aware of what it is. 

Recently I had something on my person that went missing and I didn’t notice it was gone for quite a while.

There was a commercial for an air freshener on television a number of years ago. The commercial depicted strong food orders or sweaty gym clothes and said we can become smell blind to them. 

We know it’s true, because you can cook fish for dinner and think nothing of it. But when you come back to your house after going out for the evening, all you smell is that fish. 

We get used to our environment. 

I played hockey this morning and the guy beside me in the dressing room must have become smell blind to his hockey equipment. There was definitely some potent stink coming from his hockey bag.

But this doesn’t just happen with smells; we can actually become blind to physical things that we look at every day. 

Maybe you had a knick-knack on a coffee table that had been there for years. You walked by it multiple times a day. Then one day you noticed it was gone and wondered how long it had been missing. 

I know this can happen because once my brother and I broke one of my mom’s figurines and we hid it. It took a couple of weeks before she started asking questions about that little Hummel.

Well, it got even worse for me the other day. I looked down at my wrist and noticed something was missing. 

For years I’ve been wearing a red band made of silicone on my right wrist. When I noticed it wasn’t there and started wondering where I might have lost it and when this might have happened. 

I had no clue how long it had been gone. I had to check the videos of my weekly sermons. It turns out that the last time I had it on my wrist when I was preaching was three weeks prior. 

… Three weeks! I have no idea when during that time it might have gone missing or where this might have happened. It was just gone and I had become blind to it. 

I wore that band literally every day for over ten years. I never took it off for showering, sports …never! 

In my defence, this wrist band was light. It weighed nothing and I couldn’t feel it on my wrist. 

But it was red and it’s not like I don’t look down in the direction of my hands about a hundred times a day. 

And it’s still warm out, so my wrists are bare – no long sleeves or coats.

How in the world could I become so blind to something that was so much a part of me every day for such a long time? 

I guess we get too familiar with some things that, though they are part of our lives, we can become detached from them.

Here’s the thing: Our greatest concern should be that we become so familiar with being a follower of Jesus that we kind of get detached or distanced from Him. We can become blind to our faith and not notice that it’s missing or not active any more. Stay aware of Christ in your life with regular prayer, praise and pursuing His Word, the Bible. … Oh, and attend church as well.

That’s Life!

Paul

Question: What have you become blind to in your life? Leave your comments and questions below.

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