A number of months ago, Liane and I watched “The Music of Silence”, a biographical film of Italian singer and songwriter, Andrea Bocelli. The film covered the entirety of his life, touching on major milestones and challenges, one of which provided me with a tangible example of what it looks like to live by faith.
Andrea was born with numerous eye problems that impacted his vision. However, it wasn’t until he was hit in the head with a soccer ball at age 12 that he completely lost his ability to see. Vision is arguably the sense we gather the most information from. Could you imagine losing that? Sure, Andrea wasn’t able to see that clearly before the fútbol accident, but he had still been able to see partially. The film portrayed young Andrea terrified as the sun disappeared from the noon day sky. His vision went completely dark. I, too, would be just as terrified.
Andrea had to adjust to his new way of life without sight: moving around his home, eating, changing and using the bathroom. His relationships would look different too.
Distraught, Andrea’s mother took the incident even harder than her son did. One day, to better understand her son’s condition, Andrea’s mother asked him, “What do you see?”
Andrea responded explaining how he saw everything and nothing at the same time. Somewhat paradoxical, but he went on to explain how he saw the room and its contents. Then he said, “I even see you, Mama.” Her face turned to her son. Andrea continued, “I see you because I know you are here.”
Did you get that? Andrea didn’t have physical sight, but yet he was still able to see his mother because he knew she was present with him.
I think this captures what it means to live by faith and not by sight. How many times do we wonder if God is with us? A few things go wrong or don’t go the way we expected and we immediately think God left us. Why is that our first response? In Matthew 28:20, Jesus promises to be with us always, to the end of time. God will never leave us! No matter how difficult our situation is, God is still right there with us. The real question is, do we know that? Because if we did, we would see God.
In those moments when everything is going wrong, God is still with you. Ask God to help you know that He is there. I am confident that when you know He is present, you will start to see His “fingerprintss” in your day to day life!
Be blessed.
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Photo by Ryoji Iwata on Unsplash
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