But are eyes unique enough for us to be able to distinguish one person from another? Are they unique at all? I did a little web-searching to see what I could find. Now I am the first one to tell you that I don’t believe everything I read on the internet but some of these items were fascinating.
The Cornell Center for Materials Research says that eyes have two structures within them which are currently used for identification. And this identification, according to the article, is more accurate than a fingerprint which can change over time and can be purposefully altered. http://www.ccmr.cornell.edu/education/ask/index.html?quid=741
Wikipedia backs up this information on their page regarding “retinal scan”. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Retinal_scan
What a powerful image. To think that you can be known by your eyes.
You may have heard the expression “the eyes are the window to the soul”. I am not quite sure where this phrase came from, but I do believe that the eye can speak volumes. Our physical health can be seen in the eye. Eye doctors can diagnose such diseases as high blood pressure, diabetes, neurologic disorders, and high cholesterol just by looking in your eyes. The Bible speaks to this in Matthew 6:22 – “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light.” (ESV)
I think the expression “the eyes are the window to the soul”also speaks to knowing a person by just looking in their eyes as well. If you were to ask me the color of my daughter’s eyes, I would know the answer because I spent so many years looking into her eyes – as a baby, while disciplining a toddler, while homeschooling the child across the table, and while watching her eyes weep when she was broken hearted. I could tell you that the color around her pupils is different than any other eye I have seen because it bursts forth with "rays" like a sunflower. And most of us who have been blessed to be in love would be able to tell you about our love's eyes because we have spent so many hours of our relationship just gazing into them.
After that inner layer of family and friends, some of us no longer notice the eyes of the people around us. I have spent time talking with people who never once even look into my eyes. And I must say that I am guilty of the same. If a person is not “on my radar” I might miss the moments. I might not even be
able to tell you if they had eyes, let alone tell you what color they were. For those of you who read my blog last week, this was one of those aha moments I had in working with the children and young adults we teach at the School of the Arts in Clarkston. As I was looking through the pictures I had taken, I realized that the day I took those photos was the first time I had ever looked some of them in the eye. This caused me to weep because I “saw” the person – the one with the eyes that were the window to their soul.
I am not a person who is afraid to look you in the eye. But I am a person who may choose not to. Shame on me. Each soul that crosses my path deserves my attention. God may not call on me to be in each one’s life beyond that brief moment. But while they are there – I should be looking in their eyes. If I don’t, I may miss what God wanted me to see. I may miss the divine appointments He has set up for me. I may miss an opportunity to show the love that He would have me show - the love that He has shown me.
I have often thought about Jesus’ eyes. I believe that it was His eyes that drew people to Him. Isaiah 53:2 tells us that “He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to Him, nothing in His appearance that we should desire Him.“ So what was it that attracted them? Yes, they wanted to have access to this One who healed and raised people from the dead. But there was something else. You don’t have to agree with me, but I believe the answer was in His eyes.
I believe that when the woman who was caught in adultery looked up at Jesus – she saw His eyes. And His eyes spoke the forgiveness that she needed. I believe that Zaccheus climbed the tree that day to see Jesus, but His life was changed when Jesus looked on him with those eyes and saw him. I believe that when Judas betrayed Jesus that night, he couldn’t get those eyes out of his thoughts.
Do your eyes reflect Jesus’ eyes? When someone looks into your eyes, do they see that same love? Or do you even let them look into your eyes? Do you even look into theirs? I have seen God’s glory in some of the eyes in the picture at the top of this page. I have felt the love of Jesus looking back at me. I only hope that in time, each one of those souls will be able to say the same of me.