Look in the eyes

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Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life,

          Jesus

 

But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this is what defiles.

          Jesus

 

The soul, fortunately, has an interpreter - often an unconscious but still a faithful interpreter - in the eye.

          Charlotte Brontë, Jane Eyre

____________________________________

 

We are what we consume

if that were true, perhaps I would be a potato

 

But there is deep truth here

beyond carrots and legumes

and the stuff of life

 

Those who follow Christ understand this

darkly perhaps

or not at all

 

eat this bread, drink the cup

feed on Sacred

that you might live

 

what we take in shapes us

if we live in the shallows of empty entertainment

we will be shallow people

 

if we consume hate, or fear, or anger

we will be hateful, fearful, and angry

 

If we are open to love

and allow sacred, and others to love us

we become

loving

 

and what comes in, and what metabolizes in our soul

(our inner self)

eventually comes out

 

we process and then eliminate

what we consume

 

whether it be a burrito or fries

love or grace

 

hate metabolizes into hate and violence

love metabolizes into kindness, compassion, and generosity

 

what is in our hearts

is revealed in our words

in our behaviors

in our eyes

 

We project our inner self

 

And we project our inner self on others.

That’s right.

There’s no objective world “out there.”

Take two people with two different “selves”

shaped by their histories and chosen consumption

and they will see two different worlds

 

the eyes are a window to the soul in more ways than one

It’s like we’re looking out through a window.

What is going on inside us shapes what we see

 

If we are looking for kindness you will find it

everywhere

We are looking for affront, for injury

we will find it, everywhere

 

and you will project your inner self onto those around you

 

I want to have smiling eyes

I want my inner world to be shaped by compassion and love

hope and grace

 

I don’t like to want to be a person

who squints and scowls

who spews hate

and projects on to others

their own thoughts, attitudes, and behaviors

 

and I don’t want my soul to be drawn

in an unholy alliance

with those who do

 

claim my heart oh God

clean my heart oh God

clean the windows of my soul

 

set my soul on fire

with your love

and let the light of that fire

shine

a light in the darkness