God-Blessed Eyes

“But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see!”

Matthew 13:16 (MSG)

Issues with my eyes started in childhood. But I was 12 before the school system finally understood I couldn’t see the board. I will never forget the day I walked home from the eye doctor wearing new glasses. I hadn’t realized trees had individual leaves. They had always looked like the child’s drawing of a green cloud. When it was time to step off the curb, I stared in amazement. There was an actual edge there. On Sunday, instead of a blurred blob moving around, I could see the preacher in front of the church, even watching the movement of his mouth. It was fascinating.

In my 30’s I upgraded from glasses to contacts … that is until I moved to a desert area … where I developed dry eye. My eyes were too dry for contacts, so I had to revert to glasses. With the help of eye drops through the day, I kept my eyes moist.

In my 60’s I developed glaucoma and the doctor wrote a prescription for drops to put in my eyes at bedtime. One problem, the drops made my eyes dry. I would wake up in the night and couldn’t open my eyes … they were stuck shut. I would have to reach up with my fingers and pry my eyes open. And so began the routine of putting an ointment in my eyes at bedtime. Too bad if I couldn’t fall asleep and wanted to just get up and read. The ointment made everything blurry. I was willing to have the blurriness at night to prevent further deterioration of my eyesight.

This whole thought process started at church this morning when I heard the words that sometimes God has to pry our eyes open to get us to see. I totally understood about prying eyes open.

The first 30 years of my life I was unaware I couldn’t see. Oh, I could read the scriptures and pray, but my spiritual eyes were blind. An unexpected divorce was the event that pried my eyes open. When I began reading the Bible for myself, searching for answers for me, it was like putting on glasses for the first time. I could see so very clearly the Bible was full of love and goodness and caring … for me.

The more I grow in this relationship with Christ, the clearer my vision becomes. Not only has God blessed my physical eyesight, but my spiritual eyes are being opened more and more as I travel on this journey with Him.

“Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see….” Jeremiah 5:21 (NIV)