Vision

29. April 2008 by BruceSmith.

If you have weak eyes, and are forced to wear contacts or glasses, you know how difficult it is to see clearly when you are not wearing your “corrective” lenses.  My son, now of driving age, has less than perfect eyesight, and needs to wear glasses for various things.  Reason would dictate, that he would put on his specs when and where they are needed in order to have his vision working at optimal levels, right?  Not so quick.  It seems that these very cool, not so cheap specs which were picked out for him are not worn nearly as much as they ought to be.  I recently got a “teacher report” from one of his high school instructors who suggested that rather than wear his glasses, my son sits up front every day watching the board through squinting eyes.  I know first hand of his vision impairment and its affects from his repeated driving without his glasses!  You don’t want to be in the car with him at night if he is not wearing his binoculars!

While we easily recognize the value of simple practical steps which enable us to help ourselves, many times we don’t take those wise steps forward.  Failing to do so, in reality, causes us to go through life with impaired vision, a lack of focus.  The scriptures remind us in fact that, “The people perish without vision”.  Focus is a critical element in our finding the life God offers us.  If we are ever to realize the kind of life we were meant to live we must have a clear view of what God has for us and a passionate desire/focus to head in that direction.

If you have ever watched Rafael Nadal play tennis, you know what focus looks like.  Rafa, the best clay court player in the world, maybe ever (he has won 98 of the last 99 matches on clay he has played) has a steely-eyed fire about him when he is competing.  There are no points off, no relaxing, no quit.  The same is true of Tiger Woods on the golf course, Micheal Jordan on the basketball court, and Brett Favre on the football field.  Focus is a characteristic of all great athletes.  In fact, this “vision” is a critical measure for all hitters in baseball.  Studies show that for each point a hitter’s vision declines the batting average falls in conjunction.  All great hitters have 20/20 vision.

This analogy offers us a little life lesson we should adhere to.  If we are to become and live like the people God intended for us to be we must learn to eliminate as many “off moments” as possible.  Just as great football players don’t take a down off, we cannot afford to take a pass on pursuing what is best for us and what is in keeping with God’s agenda.  When we take our eyes off the target of His best for us, we get off track, and sometimes we can be completely blindsided.  Just ask the otherwise smart, controlled, and God-honoring person who let themselves go for one night, one relationship, one “phase”, … .  Sometimes turning a blind eye to God’s ways can result in lifelong consequences.

God’s grace, mercy, and love are ever present amidst our blindness.  We should never lose sight of this.  Yet, we rob ourselves of so much peace, wonder, and joy by taking a pass on God’s call in any given situation.  Each bit of work, each look, each interaction, each relationship, each moment is ripe with unknown potential in the economy of God.  We need to have our vision focused by the amazing spectacle of God’s grace.  By keeping our eyes on Him and on what He is calling us to we find the life we were meant to live.  He does not want us to run around looking like a bunch of squinty-eyed, vision impaired, off track followers.  We don’t represent Him well that way.

Don’t turn your gaze to things which will pull you down today.  Look up, find your direction in God’s best for you, and enjoy the life you were meant to live.

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org  (consider supporting us by hitting the “donate” button at the site–THANKS)

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