Distorted Vision

At the eye doctor recently, I had my eyes dilated, a procedure I haven’t had done in a very long time. The doctor told me that my eyes would be sensitive to light for a few hours, but on top of that, the drops that they had put in my eyes caused my vision to be blurred and hazy.

I was glad to get home, sensing that it probably wasn’t safe for me to be driving. I began thinking about how, on the way to the doctor, I could see fine, but after a few drops, my vision had been impaired, even if only temporarily. God gave us eyes to see, and today our vision may be clear, but then sometimes it gets cloudy and judgmental, when we look at others. Our worldly eyes will never see all that God sees, but we take at face value what we see with our eyes, not considering another person’s history, current situation, or state of mind.

What if there were drops on the market that could improve our spiritual vision? Most drops instruct you to apply the drops into your eyes and then close your eyes for a few seconds. So maybe if we put in a few drops of compassion, we’d be able to see past a homeless person’s tattered clothes and instead see their need for acceptance. How about a drop or two of empathy so that we can imagine the suffering of others and be immeasurably grateful for what we have? What if we put kindness drops in our eyes on a regular basis? We could love others the way Jesus calls us to love, not just love the ones we think are worthy of our time and effort. A few drops of patience could help us relax and de-stress, helping us to see that there are situations beyond our control, keeping our peace intact.

Apply daily and close your eyes. Sometimes we need to close our eyes and ask God to prepare our eyes for what we’ll see each day. Help us to be sensitive to the needs of others, to see and treat others the way Jesus would…the way God sees and treats us. When you open your eyes, you’ll be amazed how much clearer your vision is.