Louis was born on this day in 1809 in Coupvray, France. At the age of three, he was playing in his dad’s harness shop when a tragic accident happened. “A tool slipped and plunged into his right eye. Sympathetic ophthalmia and total blindness followed.”1 Our hearts break over such an event happening to a young child. However, it would seem that his parents raised him as if he were a “sighted” child, raising him “normal” with the advantages of any other child.
Louis began playing piano and organ, at which he excelled. By the time he was 15, he had earned a scholarship to attend the National Institute for Blind Children in Paris. Two years later, he was a teacher at the institute.
In another part of France, French inventor, Charles Barbier de la Serre, had developed something called night writing. It was developed during his time serving in the French army and provided a way for code to be sent. “The writing system used raised dots that soldiers could feel with their fingers. Each 12-dot cell represented a letter or phonetic sound. However, because readers could not read a whole cell with one finger, it was difficult for readers to decipher the messages efficiently.”2
Night writing had its deficiencies, but Louis took the rudimentary idea and made it something utilized today by the blind and named after him: braille. Louis Braille would never see – literally and figuratively – the difference his invention would make because it was not widely adopted until after his death in 1852. At the age of 43, Braille succumbed to tuberculosis.
Braille amazes me! How long does it take someone to develop the ability to distinguish the letters of the raised dots? Occasionally, I have touched those dots in an elevator, and I cannot feel the patterns.
Braille books tend to be larger than printed books due to the space required for the raised dots. Therefore, Braille products tend to be more expensive. My curiosity led me to braillebookstore.com where I searched for the cost of a Braille Bible. They are available at the cost of $700 for the entire Bible. If you want to build your collection, the Bible is broken down into 31 volumes, the most expense volumes being $45. Imagine having to bring 31 books to church just to follow along!
As you know, I’ve been preaching through 1 John. This introductory story of this devotional gives 1 John 1:1 a whole new meaning. “That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, of the Word of life.”
The blind person holding a Braille Bible cannot see as a typical person, but they sure have handled the Word of Life! Each letter is touched, making the words quite literally leap from the pages.
The blind individual who knows Jesus as Savior has the best advantage of all. Imagine someone leaving this world, never having had the privilege of sight, opening their eyes for the first time in Heaven. What a day that is going to be for every believer, but I would think it holds out something extra special for the sight impaired.
Revelation 22:1-4 says, “And he shewed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, 
proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. (2) In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. (3) And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: (4) And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.
1https://www.britannica.com/biography/Louis-Braille
2https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/january-4/louis-braille-is-born
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