There is a song with the opening lines that goes like this :
"I believe for every drop of rain that falls, a flower grows.
I believe that somewhere in the darkest night, a candle glows."In a way, that is a good reminder for an awareness of the things we see around us.
We may have seen flowers and lighted candles, sunrise and sunset, and we just pass them by without thinking or reflecting.
We may have also seen many other things and passed them by without reflecting and wondering.
We have seen wars, violence, oppression, injustice, poverty, death and we just pass them by.
We are numbed by it and have become numbed to it.
Or we have seen a smile, a helping hand, care and compassion and understanding, and we have also become indifferent to it.
Jesus is reminding us to look, to observe and to reflect on the signs in our lives and then to act on it.
May this prayer of St. Francis help us in our reflection :
Lord, make me an instrument of your peace,
Where there is hatred, let me sow love;
where there is injury, pardon;
where there is doubt, faith;
where there is despair, hope;
where there is darkness, light;
where there is sadness, joy;