I was sitting in Ms. Lew's fifth grade class when the voice of the school secretary suddenly burst into our classroom over the announcement system. *Ding! "Ms. Lew? Could we have Dee-LYE-ah Proo-TEE down in the front office for early dismissal please? Thank you!" her voice blared, followed by another *Ding! I hopped out of my seat and immediately began throwing everything on my desk into my backpack. Not even the secretary's horrible mispronunciation of my name, or my classmates' snickers could quell my joy at being able to leave school early! I had nearly forgotten that my dad was supposed to be picking me up to take me to the eye doctor. I walked as fast as my 10-year-old legs would carry me to the front office, where sure enough, my dad was waiting on me. Off we went to the optometrist.
When the optometrist placed his high-powered microscope in front of my eyes, I saw surprise register on his face when he pulled away. "Young lady, do you know you are already 3x more nearsighted than your father? You need glasses right away. I don't know how you've been able to get around without them, you're blind as a bat!"
Needless to say, glasses and other eye correction paraphernalia have been a part of my life ever since. As long as I live I am going to have to be careful to make sure my vision and focus are functioning correctly.
I find that this same principle applies with my walk in Christ. Spiritually, there are times when my focus and vision have been off. It often happens gradually, without my realizing it. Normally, I would say that I am nearsighted, or that I can only see what is directly in front of me. I get so wrapped up in my immediate situation that my focus shifts away from God and becomes obscured and blurry. In those cases, it seems like the problem I am facing will never end; that there is nothing beyond my current circumstance.
But sometimes, I can be farsighted too. I try to guess God's next move, or plan my own future without consulting Him first. This causes me to lose focus on the blessings God is giving me at the moment, and on the path He's trying to point out to me.
Sound familiar?
Thank God for the Holy Ghost, our personal optometrist. He can tell us when our spiritual eyes are beginning to shift out of focus. He even provides us with tools to treat nearsightedness, farsightedness, and everything in between! These tools are:
-Prayer
-Fasting
-Reading His Word
-Fellowship with believers in church
-Regular church attendance
For you nearsighted folks, check out Psalms 16:8. For my farsighted fellows, read Proverbs 14:12 when you get a chance (I won't ruin the surprise!).
Don't worry – it seems like a lot of maintenance, but the benefits make it well worth it…20/20 vision!
~Delia Pruitte (That's DIL-yah PROO-it)