Call me 4 eyes. I’ve worn glasses much of my life. The only way for me to have 20/20 vision is to don corrective lens since I am severely nearsighted. Some people wear glasses as a fashion statement. To me they are a necessary essential for my life.
I first realized this while attending Miss Owens’ 4th grade class at Union Elementary. Since my last name started with a letter near the end of the alphabet, she made me sit in the back of the room. My vision was so poor, I couldn’t read the blackboard. This was a problem.
Even though I pleaded to be seated up front, there was no exception to her rule. A trip to the eye doctor and a prescription for a new pair of glasses solved the issue. I could see individual leaves on the trees now. Amazing! Suddenly, a whole new world opened up to me that I didn’t even know existed.
I shudder to think what life would be like without glasses to give me 20/20 vision. But physical sight is not the only kind of vision needing correction. Through age and experience, I recognize insights now that I either totally ignored or overlooked in the past. Working with people in recovery opened my eyes to signs of trauma that were hidden from my vision. Again, a new world expanded before me that I didn’t recognize. Yet, it was there all along. I just couldn’t see it.
Leaves on trees come into focus and hidden details become clear with 20/20 vision. Nevertheless, even with corrective lenses, I remain blind to many of the spiritual needs around me. It’s easy to accept superficial vision. If I look too closely, I may feel uncomfortable with what I see.
To probe for deeper insight requires a risky kind of faith that longs to see others as only God can see them. Now we see a mere reflection of what is real but someday we will see everything clearly.
May 2020 bring you 20/20 vision and the courage to truly see.
For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.
1 Corinthians 13:12
