B is for BLIND

When I get a heavy cold, almost without fail, I lose my sense of smell and of course, along with it, my sense of smell. It reminds me of the conversation between two men, one of whom had said that his dog had no nose, to which the other retorted, 'How does he smell?' 'Terrible!' came the reply. But it makes me think what sense I would miss most if it was to depart permanently. I guess I could probably live without a sense of taste if I had too though it would make food pretty uninteresting, yet it might be a better diet control than many of the fad diets on the market today. Sometimes, I think dietitians forget that most people eat food because they actually like the taste of it. Take that away and maybe we're getting somewhere. Still, I have noticed that when the old virus takes away this sense, I can still generally recognise sweet and bitter things to a very limited degree though specific taste has gone, so I don't know if this sense ever truly leaves you.

If I lose this sense, then most likely, it is accompanied by a loss of smell. How disappointing it would be to not be able to enjoy the fragrance of flowers in the spring and summer, the scent of apples in an orchard, the aroma of freshly cut grass or drying hay or just the pleasant and less pleasant smells that fill our countryside through the seasons. But also, how critical it might be if I couldn't detect something burning, the smell of gas or a dangerous chemical in the air. And while I have the sense of smell, I know I'm likely to maintain a sense of taste. No, losing this sense would be less welcome.

To be unable to sense feel or touch would be more distressing again. Simple jobs like holding a knife, fork or cup would become major events, playing a piano or guitar or indeed any musical instrument where touch creates mood, playing a sport where touch is the key to success, driving a car or riding a bike, all become almost impossible if we cannot feel what we touch. But we also can't feel hot and cold, register pain or know that what we touch can be potentially harmful. And we couldn't hug. Maybe that's the worst bit!

There are times when it's best not to hear and sometimes we hear but don't listen. I had an uncle who couldn't hear or speak but he got by, mainly by using his sight. But I often wondered what he missed about not hearing. How privileged to be able to hear music, regardless of its type, to be able to hear others talk, even though we may not appreciate what they say, to listen to the birds singing, as they happily build in my rafters, to hear a river flow, or a phone ring, to hear a cat purr or a dog bark. How good to hear the voice of a loved one or even to listen to the silence.

I don't know anyone who is completely blind, though several older folk in the neighbourhood have almost lost their sight. What a difference it makes. To see words, objects, people, animals, clouds, trees, the sun, the moon and stars, darkness, rivers, flowers, colours, rainbows, the list is inexhaustible. To experience the difficulties that blindness brings, to have to depend on others, to have little concept of distance or perspective, to be unable to appreciate art, to have to constantly create mental pictures of objects that we have never seen.

To lose any sense is unwelcome but I guess it's worse than never having had that sense in the first place. To no longer be able to appreciate God's creation visibly or audibly leaves us with a sense of what we're missing but it's different to the longing that those who are born deaf or blind have, just to be able to experience what the vast majority of us take for granted.

Which sense would I choose to do without? None of them, I think. This morning I made a cup of coffee and without any of the five it would have been a lesser experience, from hearing the kettle boil, seeing when I had enough in the cup, feeling the warmness and tasting and smelling the goodness therein. And I guess God thinks the same way. In Psalm 34:8 we read 'Taste and see that the LORD is good.' After the flood when Noah sacrifice to God, we read, 'The LORD smelled the pleasing aroma and said in his heart: "Never again will I curse the ground because of man.' When doubts arose in some of His followers after the resurrection, Jesus said, in Luke 24, 'Touch me and see.' And several times we are told 'Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts.' So there it is. Five Senses, all good and all clearly important in helping us to find Him. And how wonderful if we could echo the words of Job, when he said 'My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Makes sense, doesn't it?