[{"data":1,"prerenderedAt":-1},["ShallowReactive",2],{"\u002Farticles\u002Fdon-t-be-homeblind":3,"\u002Farticles\u002Fdon-t-be-homeblind-surround":73},{"id":4,"title":5,"author":6,"bibleBooks":8,"body":10,"columnName":56,"date":57,"description":16,"extension":58,"image":59,"meta":60,"minRead":61,"navigation":62,"path":63,"postType":64,"publication":65,"publicationUrl":59,"seo":66,"stem":67,"topics":68,"__hash__":72},"blog\u002Farticles\u002Fdon-t-be-homeblind.md","Don't Be Homeblind",{"name":7},"Dave Faust",[9],"1 Thessalonians",{"type":11,"value":12,"toc":52},"minimark",[13,17,20,23,26,29,32,35,43,46,49],[14,15,16],"p",{},"On a study tour in England earlier this year, my wife and I were riding on a bus through the countryside on a sunny afternoon. It was early spring, and sheep grazed peacefully on pastures that looked like they had been painted emerald green by the hand of God. Daffodils bloomed beside the neatly trimmed hedges lining the roads.",[14,18,19],{},"\"Who trims all those hedges?\" I asked the tour guide.",[14,21,22],{},"\"In some places, government highway workers,\" he replied. \"Everywhere else, the local farmers do it themselves.\"",[14,24,25],{},"\"Well, they do a great job,\" I said. \"The roadways are beautiful here.\"",[14,27,28],{},"The guide shrugged nonchalantly as if to say, \"Maybe so, but when you live here all the time you hardly notice.\"",[14,30,31],{},"It's possible to live so close to a blessing that we fail to recognize it. I grew up on a farm in Ohio with more than 200 acres of land for a boy to explore, including ponds, creeks, barns, and woods. By today's standards it was a small farm, but when visitors from the city came by, they would comment about the fresh air, the spacious views, and the quiet nights as if my family lived in a national park. To me, it was just home.",[14,33,34],{},"Years later when we lived in New York, my wife and I often grumbled about the aggravations of daily life: the traffic, the stressful pace, the high cost of living. Visitors from the country, though, gazed in amazement at the famous museums, restaurants, theatres, beaches, and ballparks we took for granted.",[14,36,37,38,42],{},"In Mike Nappa and Norm Wakefield's ",[39,40,41],"em",{},"Legacy of Joy: Giving the Gift of Joy to Your Children"," (Barbour Publishing, 1998) Nappa writes, \"How could you be blind to something you look at a dozen times a day? Scientists call it being 'homeblind.' Commonplace details fail to register. We are homeblind to the familiar.\"",[14,44,45],{},"It's an interesting concept. I have known church members plagued by homeblindness. Chronically dissatisfied with their local church, they're unable to see how blessed they are to have good friends, a faithful preacher, and a comfortable place to worship. Homeblindness can afflict us at work, too. Preoccupied with our daily frustrations, we fail to thank the Lord for our jobs, our paychecks, our coworkers, and the health to get up in the morning and go to work at all.",[14,47,48],{},"The most dangerous kind of homeblindness, though, may be the kind that keeps us from appreciating our family blessings. Candy and I have been married nearly 29 years. That's more than 10,000 days. It's easy to take her for granted. But if she were no longer with me, how I would miss her listening ear, her special laugh, and even her funny quirks! My children are adults now, but I must never take for granted my relationship with them. Nappa writes, \"Sometimes we fathers become homeblind to the precious joy our children provide and possess. Remember how you felt the first time you held your infant child? Remember the miracle? The rush of relief and joyful exhilaration? You still hold that precious child, only now that child can hold you back. Don't be blind to the joy that brings.\"",[14,50,51],{},"God's Word says to \"give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus\" (1 Thessalonians 5:18). Fathers Day is an especially good time to open our eyes and notice the blessings all around.",{"title":53,"searchDepth":54,"depth":54,"links":55},"",2,[],"First Look","2004-06-20","md",null,{},3,true,"\u002Farticles\u002Fdon-t-be-homeblind","column","The Lookout",{"title":5,"description":16},"articles\u002Fdon-t-be-homeblind",[69,70,71],"Biblical Theology","Intergenerational Ministry","Church Leadership","JSeXWesVSIRenYWfr9DmMiAjsHS4wtcXdrj7mbXn6pk",[74,79],{"title":75,"path":76,"stem":77,"description":78,"children":-1},"Doing Your Part in the 'Super-Organism'","\u002Farticles\u002Fdoing-your-part-in-the-super-organism","articles\u002Fdoing-your-part-in-the-super-organism","Do you find it amusing when the book of Proverbs refers to a lazy person as a \"sluggard\"? The very word itself sounds slow and dull—sluggish.",{"title":80,"path":81,"stem":82,"description":83,"children":-1},"Don't Despise Small Things","\u002Farticles\u002Fdon-t-despise-small-things","articles\u002Fdon-t-despise-small-things","Solomon's temple was enormous and impressive, but eventually the Babylonians looted its treasures and tore it down. Years passed while Jerusalem lay in ruins until Nehemiah, Ezra, and others returned to rebuild the city and the temple."]