To See, or Not to See...

My mom failed her driving test.  Her first one.  When she was a teenager.  Not because she couldn't drive.  Because she couldn't see.  She didn't know.  Her vision had deteriorated gradually and she had automatically learned to accommodate. 

She told me about the first ride home with her glasses...about seeing individual leaves on the trees, instead of kindergarten trees that were just big balls of green.  It was like rediscovering the world.  Like seeing it for the first time.

I have been blessed with impeccable vision.  I got that from my dad.  It is a gift, and I am most grateful.  But recently I noticed that when I pulled items with small print closer for a better look, they actually became less clear.  This was terribly disconcerting.  While visiting the eye doctor with my son, I asked him about it. "Does this sound like a problem, or does it just sound like I'm 43?"  "Well, we can't know for sure until we take a look.  But it's probably that you're 43."  "O.K. Thanks." :~/

One eye exam later, I have the following diagnosis:  "My eyes are beautiful and healthy.  And I am getting old."  So...I went to one of my favorite fru fru stores in downtown Franklin, Avec Moi, and bought my first pair of readers.  Black and Purple.  Really cute.  I still forget I have them sometimes.  Truth is, I can still usually make out most anything I need to read without them, they just make it a lot easier.

Here is an interesting thing I have observed though.  When I take them off and look back at the words I was just reading, I am amazed at how fuzzy and confusing they look by comparison.  I have done a lot of thinking about this.  I have wondered how many other things...how many truths...how many other people even...I look at and think I see them, when in reality I have only a fuzzy impression.

"For this people's heart has become calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts and turn, and I would heal them."  ~Jesus  (Matthew 13)

Do you know how federal agents are trained to spot counterfeit money?  You might think they would be shown all the tell-tale signs of counterfeiters.  But that's not it.  They spend a great deal of time with REAL money.  They are taught to memorize each detail.  Once they know it as well as they know their own faces, they will always be able to spot a bill that is not real.

"Sanctify them by the truth.  Your Word is truth." ~Jesus (John 17)

Father, teach me to see.  When I embrace illusions and believe them to be truth, shatter my illusions.  Teach me to be humble enough to seek help when my vision is blurry...when I am too close to a situation to see it clearly.  Sanctify me with truth.  Your Word...

"The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new lands, but in seeing with new eyes."   ~Marcel Proust  

Comments

[www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1423241245]

Oh, Shelia! I love this post! Very timely for my morning. Thank you~

[Joan Kirkpatrick]

Another insightful observation of life, pun intended!

[Ali]

This post really hits home with me. I am definitely someone who looks at other people and thinks she knows them when, in reality, I have a fuzzy impression of them. This post also reminds of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 12: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known."

[Iz]

Once again, Gail's question of, "What Would Shelia See?"
More than the rest of us, that's sure. And beauty where others see rocks. I have, myself, been struggling the last few months with inability to clearly see the words on the pages before me...but I chose to fight and deny it. Clinging to the last vestiges of youth- if I only could. I'm going out tomorrow to buy some readers. Dang it! :)
Thank you for this post, my Friend! I needed to hear it.

[Dana]

I don't know why I haven't ever left you a comment because I LOVE visiting your blog........ and love how your write and what you write about. I'm also a huge John O'Donohue fan, and when I looked at the list of books you've posted on your sidebar I just smiled at the familiar titles of books I hold dear to my heart too.

I sit here typing this with my first pair of glasses lightly sitting on my nose. :) They are now two years old and recently I've admitted to myself that I need to get back to the Optometrist for an updated version! Methinks my reading glasses may morph into bi-focals. I'm a little older than you. :)

I really like your analogy here.... and thought the same thing when I first put these glasses on.... wondered how long my vision had altered how I was looking at things.... then thought about my "internal vision..."

Father O'Donohue stated......"make your gaze beautiful..." As much as I too had a bit of a struggle with the acceptance of having to wear glasses, the very idea that my gaze had the potential of being more beautiful helped me step into a new beauty.

cheers to you.