In the blink of an eye
James Cathcart
January 15, 2024
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Listen to this daily worship
Psalm 139: 13-18 (NRSVA)
13
For it was you who formed my inward parts;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.14
I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made.
Wonderful are your works;
that I know very well.15
My frame was not hidden from you,
when I was being made in secret,
intricately woven in the depths of the earth.16
Your eyes beheld my unformed substance.
In your book were written
all the days that were formed for me,
when none of them as yet existed.17
How weighty to me are your thoughts, O God!
How vast is the sum of them!18
I try to count them—they are more than the sand;
I come to the end—I am still with you.
Over a year you will blink over 10 million times.
10 million tiny movements.
Each one taking less than half a second.
You’ll blink in the sunlight.
You’ll blink in surprise.
You’ll blink in frustration.
You’ll blink out of wonder.
You’ll blink out of exhaustion.
But mostly you’ll blink out of routine
Millions of rapid movements,
something like twenty times a minute.
Little reflex actions
of the incredible multi-faceted system
that is your body,
the everyday wonder that is being human.
But a handful of those 10 million blinks won’t be ordinary.
They won’t be routine.
They’ll speak volumes.
Through a slight hesitation,
or a twitch,
a glint of recognition,
or a slight crease
that shows someone that you have really seen them.
Sometimes the smallest, briefest actions and gestures can make all the difference in the world.
There’s a passage from Henri Nouwen’s ‘The Wounded Healer’ that has always stayed with me:
“Let us not diminish the power of waiting by saying that a lifesaving relationship cannot develop in an hour. One eye movement or one handshake can replace years of friendship when man is in agony. Love not only lasts forever, it needs only a second to come about.” — Henri Nouwen, The Wounded Healer
One eye movement.
One blink.
Prayer:
Dear God of our eyes
and our mobile features
who created us intricately
to be expressive
who gave us animated faces
alight with personality.
Help us enact
through our gestures
our manner,
our bearing,
our nods,
our blinks…
your ever lasting love.
Amen.
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