I find it kind of weird when I see someone wearing “fashion glasses.” You know the kind? The fake ones that some people wear because they think they look cool? As an individual who’s needed glasses long enough to be the only kid on the play ground other than my brother wearing them, I just find it odd.

I mean, when I was a kid and things were only fuzzy when they were about twenty feet away my mom had a difficult time getting me to wear my glasses at all! This of course created a “duck and cover” reflex in me during sports that took years to overcome. After all, I could never see that ball coming! Even when I did wear my glasses it seemed they would suddenly become a magnet, attracting the ball towards my face.

Suffice to say, I’ve never been good at sports, despite my 5’10” frame.

My eyesight got worse over time. Especially when I would hit a growth spurt. After all my eyes were growing too, but they weren’t really growing “correctly.”

I remember once, when I was maybe somewhere between ten and eleven years old, that I was walking down the sidewalk of my street. There were a couple boys a couple houses down, one on each side of the street, playing catch. I tried to time myself to walk through between tosses, but somehow I miss-stepped, and BAM!! The ball hit the side of my face and my glasses flew off!

The boys couldn’t understand why I was so upset as I crawled around looking in the gutter on my hands and knees.

They didn’t understand the concept that I couldn’t see.

I crawled around crying until my brother ran down the sidewalk and helped me find my glasses. One of the earpieces had broken off and we never did find it. I had to wear my glasses lopsided until we could afford a new pair.

My husband has learned that it’s very important that he never move my glasses from where I place them at night, that even if they are accidently knocked off the nightstand it could result in a crisis. My eyes have gotten to the point that everything is out of focus if it’s more then two inches away, and I could grope around for hours looking for my glasses on the floor and never find them, even when they are in plain sight.

Now if everything is where I left it, I can pretty much function without my glasses for a few minutes. I’ll reach to a table covered in “stuff” and pick up exactly what I want from memory of where it was. I imagine that is how the truly blind function, and I’m certainly not as good as they would be at it, but I can function passably for a little bit.

It’s important, it’s crucial, that the source of my sight be unmoved.

There is a lesson in that. After all the way we see the world and the truth’s we hold to is a kind of “sight.” And in this world those truths are constantly shifting. Pushing and pulling things out of focus until we no longer know where our truth is.

Everyone has different perspectives, and so it seems right that there could be many “truths.” Except, in order for “truth” to truly be “true,” it must be unmovable. People may see things from differing perspectives, filtered through the eyes of life experiences and belief systems, but that doesn’t mean each of those views is “true.”

My eyes have been shaped over time, but they are not perfectly formed, and so they don’t see the truth of the world around me, even when it is in plain sight.

I need lenses.

We need something, someone, outside of ourselves, outside of our perspectives and our world and experiences, to show us truth. We need lenses.

It’s like in court, where two people are giving a differing account of the same situation, both perspectives shaped by the individual. They need a third party to find the justice in the situation.

To find truth.

This is one reason why God’s Word is so important to me. Without it and Him I’m lost and stumbling, never finding truth even if it is in plain sight, but with Him and the lens of His word I can see.

His Truth doesn’t move. It remains constant and solid. Even in the darkest places and most unfocused circumstances I can reach out and it will be right there. Right where it has always been and always will be.

I admit that I can panic if I lose my glasses. I’m that dependent on them. I need them to function and to live. Without them I doubt I could make it through even a day unscathed.

I admit that I can panic if I lose sight of my Jesus. I’m dependent on Him. I need Him to function and to live. Without Him I doubt I could make it through even a day unscathed.

But life can sometimes knock us over. The lenses of His love seem to be knocked right off of us and we find ourselves scrambling in the gutter, not knowing which way to turn, blind and without sight.

Then we look up, and He is there, holding out His truth to us even when we are still unable to see it. Offering it to us, freely and lovingly, always and forever.

It’s possible to lose my earthly glasses completely, but not my heavenly ones. I may misplace those precious lenses of truth but they can never be truly lost. It’s a comfort.

It’s a secure knowledge for me, as someone who knows what it is to be unable to see, to know that I can never lose Him.

After all, we are all like the blind man, calling out for Christ to give us sight.

~Joy Aletheia Stevens

Photo Credit: Clarity by Sean Hering Photography (CC BY 2.0)  

Photo Credit: snellen by Daniel Novta (CC BY 2.0)

Photo Credit: Finding Focus by Artondra Hall (CC BY 2.0)