So many of the greatest blessings of life go unnoticed and consequently unappreciated. How many marriages, friendships, family relationships fall into disrepair and ultimately loss before we realize just how important these things really are? Among the few things that I remember from my collegial pastoral training was that by the time people seek out marital counselling, the situation is beyond repair. To see what we are otherwise blind to, before it is too late, is a rare ability. A recent personal epiphany has been that I have it better than I ever imagined I would. It is different than anything that I envisioned. My utopian mirage kept me pressing toward some perfect scenario and prevented me from seeing what I already possessed. This may sound ridiculous to you but it has become my reality. All my goals fulfilled pale by comparison to my present reality.
Our physical eyes are rarely adequate to discern the reality of our lives. Most of you have been to an optometrist lately and have had a picture taken … of your eye. None of these pictures are the sorts of images that you frame or send on Christmas cards. My optometrist took a picture of my better eye and explained to me what was healthy, what he could discern from the appearance of the veins etc. If you are interested in seeing this, click here. If you would like a framed autographed copy, they are available in 3 sizes for an exorbitant amount of money.
My left eye is another story …
As long as I remember, I couldn’t see well out of this eye. My first eye doctor diagnosed it as a lazy eye and sent me home with an ugly pair of glasses and an even uglier device that clipped on over the good eye. This was an attempt to make me use my slothful left eye. He encouraged me to wear the device when I was watching TV. I tried but couldn’t even locate the television with my good eye covered. It wasn’t until I had my first ocular portrait taken that it was clear to me in both eyes that there was a problem.
If you’d like to see the problem, click here.
I suspect that without any training at all, you can see why my left eye was not lazy after all and that there is indeed a problem. I have holes in the retina of this eye. As far as I know there is no helping it.
In many ways God reveals Himself more in our incapacity than our capacity … more in our weaknesses than our strengths. Our physical eyes, good or bad, are of little use to us when it comes to spiritual matters. A different kind of vision is required. Eyes of faith reveal hat eyes of flesh cannot see.
Faith to believe that perhaps God has given us everything that we need and to accept requires more trust in God than constantly looking for something that we don’t have.
Faith to believe that starting where we are is possible as opposed to starting where we are not.
Faith to believe that nothing that we can ever acquire will position us closer to happiness and fulfillment than we are right now.
In accepting this with our whole hearts, we cooperate with God to begin to build a beautiful and very present reality in our lives. I am discovering this to be an empowering perspective on life that brings gratitude to God for His often overlooked Goodness.
Thank YOU!
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