Angi Aymond

My day began just like every other morning.

After I showered, I placed those slippery little sight-enhancing spheres into my eyes.

Voila!

Except this morning, my reflection was still a bit fuzzy. I closed my right eye. Fuzzy. I closed my left eye. Yep. Still fuzzy.

So, I laughed to myself … and at myself … knowing what I had done. Again. Sure enough, a quick glance at my discarded plastic confirmed that I had used two left-eye lenses.

So, I took one lens out and placed it in that little green and white case. To use tomorrow.

Then, I put the correct lens into the right eye. Blurry. Still.

“Ahhh. What is happening? I still can’t see!”

I closed the right eye. Blurry.

I closed the left eye. Yep. Just a hazy half-reflection looking back at me.

Upon closer exam, I realized I had placed the correct right-eye lens into my right eye.  However, I had placed it on top of the other lens.

Yes. I removed the left lens from the left eye and placed it in the holding case. But, when replacing the new lens, I put it in the right eye on top of the left eye’s lens that was incorrectly placed into my right eye.

No lens in the left. Two lenses in the right.

Not exactly a prescription for good vision!!

And I wondered … how often do I experience spiritually blurred vision? How content am I with seeing things the way I have always seen them?

As I’m writing this, a couple of songs are bubbling up in my heart.

An eighth century hymn written in a language style we no longer use still finds a deep place in the heart when sung  …

Be thou my vision, 
oh, Lord of my heart
Naught be all else to me, save that thou art
Thou my best thought 
by day or by night
Waking or sleeping, Thy presence my light.

A 19th-century hymn writer penned the following  …

Open my eyes, that I may see
glimpses of truth 
Thou hast for me;
Place in my hands, the wonderful key that shall 
unclasp and set me free.

Silently, now I wait for Thee, ready, my God, 
Thy will to see;
open my eyes, illumine me,
Spirit divine!

How silently do I wait for Him to open my eyes?

How often do I receive fresh inspiration or truth, and just slap it right on my too settled heart? A bit too settled to be changed?

It’s easy … tempting … to become complacent with our knowledge.

Our self-imposed spiritual boundary markers. I bet you’ve got some.  I’ve got my own list.

But as Jesus followers, we are called to be imitators of Him.

Following Jesus for a while, it’s easy to become content with our spiritual growth. Our maturity. We might even rest in a sense of peace about it.

But it’s imperative that we carefully examine ourselves … our thoughts and beliefs. Not just our behaviors.

For it’s in contentment … complacency … that pride creeps in. Makes itself at home.

I can confess to you that pride is never the correct lens! Not for our eyes nor our hearts.

Pride blurs our spiritual vision. It distorts things, making it difficult for us to see ourselves as we really are.

And the not so funny thing is that pride disguises itself so well it’s difficult for us to see it, call it out. Especially in ourselves.

Pride might be loud and arrogant. That’s easier to spot. 

But sometimes pride whispers.

Sometimes, it’s disguised as false humility. Worry. Shame. 

It can even look like steadiness. Well behaved. Disciplined.

But it always does two things: it blinds and stunts.

It blinds us to who we really are, and it stunts our growth. Oh, it might help us march straight lines within our own set of markers, falsely assuring us we’re on the right path. But pride guards our hearts in all the wrong ways.

So, friends, let’s be careful about the lenses we allow over our hearts.

Let’s determine to examine ourselves. Regularly.

We can ask these questions:

1. Lord, how does my heart compare to Yours?

2. How well do I imitate You? With my thoughts? Words? Actions?

He will open our eyes. Correct wrong thinking. Wrong believing. Wrong doing.

But we must be willing to sit under His lens. And might I add … warn … it’s a microscopic lens.

Open the eyes of our hearts, Lord, we want to see you.      -Paul Baloche

Open my eyes that I may see
    wonderful things in your law. PSALM 119