Out of My Blind Spot – A Poem for Lent

It rides aroundnot quite a shadowbut haunting melike the unfinished business of a half-finished plot

 It sits just behind my right shoulder bladelodged between my egoand my consciencebeckoning darknessthat keeps me from the light

 Sometimes it’s a personthat I couldn’t seebecause I was blindedby what I wanted to seewas it generosity or a fool’s charadewas it you I was seeingor my own desire to remake you?the clouds move away and I am willing to see

 Sometimes it’s a situationthat I expect will get betteruntil I remember the brilliance of the author of the law of relativity:”Insanity is doing the same thingover again and expecting different results.”The dawn comes and I can see it for what it is

 Sometimes it’s expectationsthat I mistake for definitionsuntil I remember the white slipinside the stale fortune cookie,”You will be much happierif you lower your expectations”The fog lifts and I can see how the “tions”are the blind spotperfection, competition, expectation.The light has humbletender truth

I forgot againIt’s about loveIt’s about compassionIt’s about forgivenessIt’s about acceptanceIt’s about being realIt’s about not hating what lives in my blind spot

 It’s about letting Lentgive the red car a chance to race ahead of meand noticing whose in the carand where it’s going…It’s about humilityAnd remembering that Jesushad a blind spot too

 It’s about rememberingthat loveis an inside job.first.

 Learn to love what’s in the blind spot

~ Bridget Bearss, RSCJ

Photo By Nicholas A. Tonelli from Pennsylvania, USA (Tunnel Vision) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons