Welcome to my first blog post!  I write this from the Fort Lauderdale airport where I am passing my 9-hour layover before finally flying to Quito, Ecuador.  In Ecuador I will be working at the Quito Mennonite Church for the next few years as the Coordinator of Children's Peace Education and Youth Ministry through Mennonite Mission Network.  This blog is a space for me to reflect on my experiences and share with you what I am learning.

The title of this blog comes from a song I first learned at the Quito Mennonite Church and then recorded with my friends Andrea Moya Urueña and Brisa Peacock Robison on our CD this past fall.  The lyrics say:

          Help me to see with your eyes
          I want to feel with your heart
          I don't want to live indifferently anymore
          There is so much need, Jesus.

          I ask you for peace for my city
          I ask you for forgiveness throughout my city
          Now I humble myself and seek your face
          To whom shall I go, Lord, but you?

One of the things I have been mulling over lately is the concept of what sorts of things I see and what sorts I do not see in the world around me.  Obviously I have a better idea of what I do see than what I don't.  Yet, as I take seriously the limits of my own vision and listen to other people talk about what they see, I am learning to be on the lookout for things I normally miss.  For example, the more I listen to other peoples' experiences, I realize that the world is set up so that I don't see certain kinds of injustice.  Because I am able-bodied, I don't often think about whether spaces are accessible to folks with physical disabilities or not.  Because police officers treat me respectfully, it is easy not to see how people of color are targeted and harmed by police.  Because I am a North American, employed by a mission agency, living in the context of Quito I don't see... well, that's what I don't know.

As I begin this new chapter of life, I want to be pay attention to things I would normally miss.  I ask for sensitivity to the experience of others and the voice of God in peoples' stories.  I ask for perceptiveness to the the Spirit of Love in the world and to the wisdom of folks I will be doing life with.  I ask that my vision be expanded, that I learn to see the social systems, people, and our earth through the lens of divine love.  In this way, I ask for peace.