A Reflection by Jim Deeds
A while back I got a very painful rash in the corner of one of my eyes. My face swelled up, and my eyes were sore. I could not see very well at all. And what I did see, I saw through painful eyes. I found that I felt down and acted grumpy. My pain affected my vision, and my vision affected how I lived my life.
How would it be to look at the world around us through the eyes of faith that Jesus came to tell us about? He told us that God is love and that we are all children of God. How would it be to look at all we meet as if we were encountering a brother or sister? We would look more joyfully and compassionately at the world around us, I think. And that truthful vision would allow us to get about building the Kingdom of God.
Jim Deeds
Jim Deeds is a husband and father from the wonderful and wounded city of Belfast, Ireland. He works as an author, poet, retreat giver, and pastoral worker across Ireland and beyond. During his life Jim has also worked as a busker, a film maker, a playwright, a bartender, a social worker, a therapist, a manager of a children's home, and a health service manager. He enjoys playing music and walking the streets and hills in his native city, drawing much of the inspiration for his writing from his life experience and from finding God in the sounds and sights, people and events around him. Jim is passionate about creating sacred space where people can pray, relax, and come to know the great love God has for all God's creation.