By Rev. Donn

I wear glasses. I wasn’t born needing glasses, when I was young my vision was fine, but as I got older my vision got worse. It was a slow deterioration. At first, all I needed were reading glasses, and while taking glasses on and off was inconvenient, not being able to read was worse, so I wore them. But my vision continued to weaken (worsened) and I needed to progress (graduate?) to regular glasses. Then I got skin cancer of the eyeball, which required some simple surgery, but definitely required a change in the prescription of my eye-glasses. Now I go once a year to have my eyes checked, sometimes the prescription doesn’t need to be changed, but most of the time it does.

So why am I telling you all of this? Because I think the story of my worsening eyesight is an analogy of what is happening around us. I think our vision is getting worse.

We need our vision corrected, we need to wear ‘Jesus glasses’ not just when we are reading the Bible, but all the time, to see the world, people, and ourselves as Jesus sees them.

We need to see people, all people, as children of God, and to accept them. We need to see where changes need to be made in our society so that all people are valued, respected, and treated fairly. We need to see the opportunities God lays out before us to be instruments of God’s grace; from simple things such as holding a door open for someone; to opening our ears to listen; to opening our minds to new understandings and perspectives; to reaching out and extending God’s love.

We need to see ourselves as God sees us, not as a critic who notes everything we do wrong but as our Creator and coach, who exults over us as a parent over a child filled with pride and love, ‘…God rejoices over you with gladness, God renews you in God’s love, God exults over you with loud singing’ (Zephaniah 3:17). God supports us when we stumble, strengthens us when we are weary, encourages us when we fail, and comforts us when we are sad. We need to see that God is always with us.

When we allow God to correct our vision not only is our eyesight restored but so is our life, and we begin to see the world with hope and possibilities, with appreciation and gratitude, and with love and grace. God Bless,