The Blind Spot

There is a well-known party trick where two letters are apart on a piece of paper. With one eye covered, you stare with the other eye at one letter and ‘hey presto’ the other letter disappears. You have discovered the ‘blind spot’ of the eye, otherwise known as a scotoma – an obscuration of the visual field. Light sensitive cells, which cover the retina, send messages to the brain about what we can see. Everyone, and apparently all vertebrates, have a spot in the retina where the optic nerve connects, and this is where there are no LS cells - hence the retina cannot see.  

Anyone learning to drive will be taught the importance of using all the mirrors; with the salutary warning that even so, there is an area about your car which you cannot see when driving. There is a blind spot. 

Occasionally, when travelling with a friend as a passenger I become engrossed in the chit chat of catching up on each other’s busy lives. Then suddenly my friend might cry out, “Woah! watch out! Did you not see that bike?” My blind spot was not theirs, thankfully! I am glad to have friends who ‘tell me as it is’ - and not only about my driving!  Their comments may hurt at first, but I hope I would always take heed and act on their wise advice. 

‘A friend loves at all times’ writes the author in Proverbs 17:17. What, even on those occasions when an individual exhibits a blind spot in their personal lives…obvious to many but not to themselves? Yes, thankfully.

We have been given the written word, the Bible, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit and the Living Word, the Lord Jesus. Both give us, as believers, illumination for the inner life and the practical outworking of our faith in the one true living God throughout our daily lives, both morally and spiritually at home, in education, work and leisure; and to reveal our blind spots. 

‘Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path’ Psalm119:105

‘Jesus said “I am the light of the world, He who follows Me shall not walk in darkness but have the light of life.”’ John 8:12

It is good for us to have in life a faithful, loving but honest friend.  May God help us, also, to be that faithful friend to others.