Monday, February 11, 2013

Glasses


There is something wrong with my eyes. I cannot seem to see clearly. The world has become all blurry and somehow out of kilter. There is no earthly prescription that will set things to right - no glasses to be taken out of a case, polished up and perched on the end of my nose. No.....I know what the problem is. I haven't prayed those words in a long time.

"Lord Jesus, give me Your eyes."

I've been looking at life through the lens of self, and it leaves me with a headache and a sense of despair. It is bad enough, I tell my inner selfish self, when everything seems all wrong with the world in general (a slight exaggeration perhaps?), but when my own life becomes all out of focus it is enough to send me groping into the darkness.Little children dying, the heartbreak of poverty, the horror of human trafficking, the drip, drip, dripping of endless arguments and debate sit like lead in the heart. But it is more than that.

It is, I tell that self, the piling up off all the little things: the computer that has suddenly gone berserk, the woman on the phone who cannot be reasoned with and instead repeats in a mind-numbing monotone the same old nonsense over and over again, the same old daily routine with its all too familiar failings and shortcomings.

I took out those words today and polished them up. I whispered them to that selfish self and to a God who bends down to listen to every word I think or say, and I put them on. Suddenly the world jumped into sharp relief and I saw:

 -a husband, days filled with the pain and suffering that comes from chronic illness , who never complains but instead does all he can to help those around him

- the son of the elderly couple who lives across the street, who has spent days clearing, cutting, mowing - getting their land ready for spring; the same son whose white pickup is parked outside their house every Saturday morning because he has come to take his mother grocery shopping

- women, who have only known each other for a few short weeks, gathered together to pray, to offer comfort, to share hugs and laughter and tears

- a card in the mail from a friend - just to send love and brighten my day

- a church reaching out to the poorest of the poor, opening its doors to "whosoever will," loving people in practical ways, in the name of Jesus.

- strangers walking hospital corridors, reaching out to help those who need a door held or a kind word

- a veteran, a stranger, knocking on the door of my Mom and Dad's little home - coming to thank my Dad for his service

With those words it is possible to look into the eyes of the unlovely and unloved and see the heart that Jesus died to save.

I put on my new glasses every morning. It makes life so much clearer for me. I must learn to put on those words in the same way. They make life so much dearer for me.

Joining my gentle friend Laura today:



Blessings,
Linda