Living Wide-Eyed

When was the last time you lived wide-eyed?

You know, the kind of eyes a child has when she notices a piece of sea glass on the shore before her brother walking beside her . . . The kind of eyes we get when we figure out how to make the DVD player work or fix the latch on the gate . . . The kind of eyes we have when we hear a couple is expecting a baby.

I don’t know what causes us to open our eyes wide. It certainly awakens our faces, let’s in more light, and that, in turn, makes our hearts expand and beat more quickly. Whatever the reason, it always leads to feeling more alive.

I wonder if that isn't the way we were created to live.

Too often, we limit the light. Either we close our eyes, because we don't want to face what’s before us, or squint, as if to question whoever or whatever stands before us. I suppose we do this as a form of protection, but it causes our hearts to constrict, not expand, and life becomes more of a chore, than dance.

Today we have a choice about the kind of eyes we’ll have. May we open our eyes wider than we have in the past, more often than we're used to, and let more light in so our hearts can expand enough to receive the gifts given, and beat more quickly to keep up with the dance into which we’ve been invited.