And happy are your eyes because they see…
(Matthew 13:16 YLT)
There’s a reason I wear glasses.
I don’t have good vision in one eye and can’t see well out the other. Together, they make quite a pair.
Sometimes our lives are a walking object lesson. Did I ever have quite an eye-opening one when one morning I went downstairs to put on a saucepan of eggs to hard boil.
Having just showered, I wrapped up in my robe and didn’t bother to put on my glasses. It’s not like I’m blind or anything; I can navigate but my distance vision is bad. I can’t clearly read the microwave digital clock if I am several feet away. Without glasses I definitely don’t have that crisp, clear vision we love when our eyes are corrected to 20/20 or better. (Oh! Look at all those leaves on the tree! Wow. It’s not really just a big green sponge blob out that window!)
Meanwhile, in the kitchen I opened the cupboard to pull out the smallest of my saucepans. It wasn’t there. Obviously it was in the dishwasher then. I checked. It wasn’t there. Ok, it’s just outside the kitchen door in my storage cupboard where the big cookware is kept. (But I never put my small saucepan out there! Hmm, must’ve sprouted legs). I rummaged around. It wasn’t there either. For pete sake.
Then to ensure that I wasn’t going nuts, I ran all those bases again. Still no home run and no small pot. I settled for the next size up, filled it with water and eggs and headed back upstairs to finish getting ready. At some point something started niggling at me.
Let’s pause. Waggle your fingers at me if you recognize that little niggle. I thought so. Now, back to our object lesson…
‘Are you sure that isn’t the small saucepan?’ said my brain. ‘Put your glasses on and go check on those eggs.’ So I did. Ah, much better!
Indeed. Because when I am not wearing my glasses, my orbit is a little bit discombobulated. Can I function? Pretty much. Do I feel ‘right’? Not really. It’s not long before I notice the eyestrain. My head feels a little funny and I experience an overall sense of being slightly off-kilter.
With my glasses on my face, I took one look at the saucepan merrily boiling the four eggs I had placed in it. Hmm. Look how closely nestled they are, only room for two more. To which my brain unceremoniously said, ‘Duh. That’s because it’s your small saucepan.’
It most certainly was. In all its perfect-sized smallness for a handful of hard boiled eggs.
Without my glasses though, I swore it was my medium saucepan. It looked bigger to my non-adjusted eyes. That sly pair. Together, they pulled a fast one on me. Until my brain niggled at me and sent me off to put on my glasses and take another look, which resulted in happy eyes.
There’s a spiritual dynamic to this object lesson.
That’s what I recognized that morning when I discovered what I had been searching for was there all along. Right where I knew it should be because that’s where I kept it.
The psalmist asserted in Psalm 119:11 – Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee.
Jesus followed centuries later preaching to multitudes, then being questioned afterward by his small group of disciples. He essentially told them that many are blind because their spiritual eyes are closed, but to them He had given happy eyes that were now learning and seeing through His lenses. (Matt. 13)
In spiritual development there is only one place where saucepans of truth, vision and clarity are kept. Stored in our heart.
Whenever the Word has been seeded, sprouted and kept watered with more Word, it remains.
Wherever it is needed for clarity of vision and understanding, it is at the ready.
In circumstances or relationships designed to or could cause us to miss the mark, the Word stored in our heart is like the perfect-sized saucepan that’s within easy reach.
But if we don’t put on our Jesus eyes for a clear and accurate view of what we’re doing or what’s happening around us, we simply end up making great bobble-heads bouncing this way and that.
‘And happy are your eyes because they see…’
Did I mention I can’t read without my glasses either?
Friends, whether your natural eyes require corrective lenses or not, I encourage you to slip on some spiritual glasses and spend consistent time in God’s Word. It’s the best way to sharpen your vision and dial your small world or our great big one into focus with the clarity He brings.
If you don’t have a Bible and would like one, would you please let me know? (You can reach me here).
I’d love to give you the gift of the Word so that you, too, may enjoy happy eyes that see.
~ Nancy
photo credit: still life with glasses via photopin (license)
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