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TheDiscipleMD

I proof read everything I write before I post it.  Sometimes, depending on time, I do it more than once. I spell check it,  but notwithstanding my efforts, I almost always send out a post that has an error in it. Be it a misspelling, the wrong use of a word, or perhaps a run on sentence. What’s interesting to me is that I will usually see it a few days later when I re-read it. Why then, do I not see it at the time I am proofreading. The answer;  At the moment I know what I am meaning and my mind sees what I mean, not what I have typed.  It seems time and distance give me a better look at the task before me.

I think that all of us can look back at mistakes we have made in our life,  and realize that often at the time, we were blind to the truth. I have found that spiritual blindness is most prevalent when we are not under the influence of the Holy Ghost. That is, when we are living contrary to the commandments of the Lord the spirit of truth, which guides and direct our lives, it withdraws, leaving us blind to our situation. Over the course of my life I have had opportunity to speak to a number of individuals who have hit “blind spots” in their lives. Once rational, spiritual, and competent, they make tragic decisions that have unfortunate consequences. At the time they seem to be blind to the situation, only to later regret decisions that affect their eternal salvation and that of their families. As time passes they look back and wonder how they were so “blind to the obvious.”

The wonderment of such irrational decisions is usually found in sin. Many years ago Marion G. Romney said this regarding sin:

“…With the loss of the Spirit of the Lord…comes a decrease of the power to choose between right and wrong… If we are seriously interested in being successful in any endeavor, we shall avoid every type of immorality as we would avoid the plague.”

This decreased power to choose between right and wrong leaves us “blinded” and susceptible to ways of man.  Romney continued:

“…I repeat the challenge to strictly abide in the spirit and by the letter of the Lord’s commandments—his divinely prescribed code for successful living. Doing so will not only bring us temporal success but also that which is of infinitely greater worth: peace, self-fulfillment, joy, and eternal happiness.

“If you keep my commandments and endure to the end you shall have eternal life, which gift is the greatest of all the gifts of God” (D&C 14:7). A glorious promise. ( Marion G. Romney, “A Glorious Promise,” Tambuli, Jul 1981)

What outstanding advice! I couldn’t agree more. Let us keep our eyes open and clear by being obedient to the gospel of Jesus Christ. Let us not let sin cloud our vision making us blind to the obvious.