Seeing CLEARLY...

"For now, we can only see a dim and blurry picture of things, as when we stare into polished metal. I realize that everything I know is only part of the big picture. But one day, when Jesus arrives, we will see clearly, face-to-face. In that day, I will fully know just as I have been wholly known by God." -- 1 Corinthians 13:12

This week I had a Jesus moment sitting in the opticians chair.  

This past year I have really noticed my eyesight getting worse.  Though I've used readers for the past few years it has slowly become more difficult. Then one morning I woke up and was supposed to start a new prescription.  As I tried to read the directions on the bottle I could NOT make out what it was saying. (No matter how far I held it from my face) It was a wake-up call.  I decided it was time to call in the professionals.  

After a thorough eye exam we discovered that I have stage one cataracts and that my eyes definitely needed some help in both reading and distance.  It took a little over a week before my glasses were ready to be picked up.  I was not prepared for how much this was going to change my life. 

OH.MY.WORD!  When my optician slide the glasses on my face and I gazed out at the office area I could not believe the difference.  I had NO IDEA that I had been living in a dimmed down world.  I had been viewing everything through a very subtle murkiness.  As I gazed through my new beautiful lenses my world was brighter, crisper and clearer.  I had no idea that I'd been walking around not seeing things clearly.

As I've begun living in this new brighter, crisper, clearer world I've wondered how many times I've walked around doing the same thing in my spiritual life.  Are there times when my spiritual eyesight is not what it should be?   In busyness does truth become law and grace become works.  Is it possible that in certain seasons or situations I am walking in a dimmed down spiritual state and I don't even know it?  

YES!

As I am entering a new season of rest and I am letting go of "things" and "responsibilities" I am finding my spiritual hunger is being stirred up and renewed.  It changes how I think, how I act, how I respond.  It fills me with a JOY that is not based on circumstances.  It breathes NEW LIFE into every part of my being.  I think of the promise in Psalm 103:

"When your soul is famished and withering, HE FILLS YOU with GOOD and BEAUTIFUL things....satisfying you as long as you live"! -- Psalm 103:5

Lord, help me to see you clearly.  Remind me that apart from YOU I can do NOTHING.  Help me to faithfully put on my spiritual glasses (The Word) every single day so that it brings a clarity and crispness to my life.  

Mary, do not look at the things which are seen, but at the things which are unseen; for the things which are visible are temporal [just brief and fleeting], but the things which are invisible are everlasting and imperishable.-- 2 Corinthians 4:18