This week my sweet little 8-year old daughter’s world changed….
so to speak.
She got glasses.
Her eyesight was pretty bad too. 20/200 in both eyes, which made me feel like a crummy mom for not noticing before now, but the ophthalmologist told me I was not allowed to harbor ‘mommy guilt’ because I have a very easygoing daughter who adjusted to her vision without a hitch. So she didn’t ‘show’ the symptoms as quickly and changed her environment to meet the needs of her vision on her own.
But, boy, her world took a big turn on Monday when she put those glasses on for the first time. Her cute little mouth dropped open and she said, “Wow. I can see leaves and little grasses (blades of grass).” The entire ride to school, after collecting her glasses, she stared out the window, awestruck, occasionally commenting on the ‘clearness’ of what she saw.
Even now, days afterward, her morning prayer each day has been “Thank you for my glasses.”
There’s such a gratitude there. Of course, she didn’t’ even know how bad her eyesight was until she got her glasses, but once she realized what she was missing, her little heart overflowed with thanksgiving.
You know where I’m going here, don’t you?
The Bible uses ‘blindness’ to refer not only to a physical inability to see clearly, but also spiritual ‘blurred’ vision. We are born with distorted views of ourselves, others, and the world around us.
In a much more convoluted way than my daughter’s eyesight, we see through a ‘dark’ lens of self-focused, Me-centeredness. Our vision is veiled…until God opens our eyes to His truth.
Lots of times we don’t even know we have blurry vision until His grace become apparent to us. Once we truly ‘see’ His love and our brokenness, an amazing thing happens. We become awestruck with the wonder of ‘new vision’. Seeing the world through grace-eyes keeps us in a state of love-marveling!
For the first time…we truly see.
Which should not only fuel our desire to do what’s right, but also encourage us to bring that same grace-wonder into the lives of others around us….with gratitude.
I need to remember this too. Tweet: With great forgiveness comes great gratitude, and with clear vision comes purpose.
What is your purpose? Mine?
If we’re Christians, we are called to glorify God and enjoy Him forever!
Almost my exact story Pepper. I got glasses in fourth grade when my teacher noticed me squinting at the blackboard. My eye exam showed my vision as 20/400, 20/600. I’m 61 and I wore glasses or contacts until about ten years ago. I had Crystal Lens Implants done in both eyes and after a little Lasic tweeking, I have 20/10 and 20/40. I was left slightly nearsighted in one eye so that I wouldn’t have to have reading glasses. That was important to me since I do so,much reading.
I also get the spiritual connotation, but I just had to share since my case was so,similar. Your daughter’s glasses are so much cooler than the ones I wore at that age! It’s hard to pick out frames when your eyes have been dilated!