“Although we can’t see with our eyes, we can see the whole world with our hearts,” the mother said to her son tenderly while leading him towards the restaurant where we met.
Yuan is a visually impaired child.
And this was my first experience with a person who could not see. Through the four-day-three-night “Parent-child Gospel Camp for Special Children”, I had the opportunity to participate in a blind person’s life and into his world, his strong will and his inspiring wonderful life.
Yuan was a pre mature baby and was born with sight defections. Everything is black to him. There is no colour of whatsoever and he can’t experience the colourful beauty of this world. However, he has evolved a special talent to “see” with his heart.
During the camp, I held on to Yuan’s hand in all the activities. He had to feel and touch with his hands to replace his eyes to understand how the world revolved around him. I tried to describe to him in words what I saw at the moment. Through this, I realized that what I have taken for granted was actually a huge project for the blind. The things which I could handle easily in minutes would be a great task to accomplish for a blind person. When we were playing water gun and water balloons, he was really excited and thrilled as it was his first.
Run Wild with excitement
On the first day, Yuan’s mom had reminded him that he should not go his own. He must follow me, the elder brother, or else accidents could happen.
When I took him for a run, and led him to a field, he let go of my hand and started running without fear. He smiled brightly and happily, as if he was an eagle flying freely in the sky! Seeing his joy, I began to understand that nothing should be taken for granted. All things, big or small, can be touching. It was the first time for him to be able to run freely on the field. His light footsteps and unrestrained body expressed his energetic side. It also showed his trust in me! My heart was filled with this touching thought as I raced with him through the field.
On the third night, there was an activity called “The path To Heaven”. The aim was to let the special children feel what heaven was like. During this activity, I told Yuan, “If we believe in Jesus, we will go to heaven in future. In heaven, you don’t have to carry any crunches, and you can see well. You can run freely. In heaven there will be you, your dad, your mom, me, and many others of your friends. All of us will be with God always.”
As I was telling him all this, I wept, picturing what a wonderful sight it would be. With Jesus in our hearts, we can now experience the happiness of heaven here on earth.
On our last day together, Yuan decided to accept Jesus as his Saviour through all the experiences he had of Jesus’ love and those caring people at the camp. Although he couldn’t see, his bright heart has opened for him a door to heaven to receive the best gift of God.
Through Yuan, the words of God in Ephesians 1:18 become real: “I ask that your mind may be opened to see his light, so that you will know what is the hope to which he has called you, how rich are the wonderful blessings he promises his people.”
See from the heart
To others, I may be the eyes of Yuan, helping him to see through my eyes. But God has instead used him to lead me to see the world through my heart. Meeting Yuan has made my life more awesome, teaching me to feel and see things from a different angle and to be more grateful from now on.
Though Yuan could not express his thoughts and feelings well in words, he chose a stanza from a song he had learned as a gift for me. “There is a feeling which is stored always deep in my heart; there is a thought I will always retrace even when I’m old. Courage helps me to utter this to you: Thank you for being with me!” It was a very short lyric, but he conveyed it fully. The relationship we built over these four days deeply touched me.
On leaving Taiwan, Yuan came with his mom to send me off at the airport. I gave him a bracelet “In Jesus Name I Pray” at the camp encouraging him to pray always. At the airport he took off the bracelet and put it on my wrist, telling me how much he appreciated my company. He wanted me to bring this blessing back to Malaysia. God in His amazing grace used a special child to bless me with his silent words. And this completed my four years’ studies in Taiwan.
After half a year, a Pos Laju van came to my house and gave me a parcel. From the post mark it was from Taiwan. I opened the parcel to find a dotted F4 paper. To my surprise, it was a Braille letter written by Yuan. As I tried to feel the braille words with my fingers, I read the transcript by his mom on the lines below. I felt so blessed as someone was missing me from afar.
Yuan has expressed his true feelings in a different way, beyond words and sight. The notes of happiness were like spring waters warmly flowing into my soul. A phrase came to mind: “Although I can’t see with my naked eyes, I can see the whole world with my heart.”