Good morning everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
I have worn glasses since I was 13 years old. Each year my eyes have always progressively gotten worse, as expected with age. I have noticed, however, that in the last few years, the only portion of my eyes that seem to need a little more help is the reading part. So in my ripe old age of forty something, I got my first pair of bi-focal. By early fifties I was into tri-focal lenses. I did finally get a doctor to explain why the different lenses…she politely told me that the muscles in our eyes weaken in our older years and need a little it of a boost. Where at fifty something I did not want to be told I was old…haha…I did appreciate her honesty.
Fortunately for me, the ‘extra’ help has not changed in my last couple of visits, so I have not had to purchase any new glasses. I take care of mine, and my job is not hazardous in that they are ever in danger really of being broken. However, age has gotten the best of them and one lens …the reading part … has completely blurred out. The transitioning cover has started to fail and that caused catastrophic repercussions to the ability to see through that portion. Therefore, in order to read, I must remove my glasses so that I can have a clear picture. The upper portion of the lens is clear and fine, so seeing the bigger objects and normal view is okay, I just cannot use them to read.
I do have a back up pair of single lens glasses, that if I sit on my neighbor’s porch and extend my arms to the other side of town, I can almost see to clear enough to read. Haha. Typing this is challenging…my arms are not quite long enough to make the screen crystal clear … haha.
But I was thinking. What if this was a lesson? Two-piece lesson at that. 1- quit being so cheep about buying new eyewear...haha. 2-what if taking away the reader portion, the fine-tuning portion, the zero in on portion of my glasses … God was asking me to focus more on the bigger picture and not so much the little things. What if the lesson here is for me to focus on what is truly important. Planting and watering…not weeding.
Let that sit in for a minute.
Yes it is my job to correct untruth, but … the manner in which I do it makes all the difference. If you are a liar and a cheat … I constantly call you out on it and in front of others no less, boldly and without love, it will not change you for the better. It will cause you to defend your ‘truth’ which is the lie. However, if you are a liar and a cheat and I correct you by showing you that you are in error by showing you the right way … no matter how many times it takes, then eventually you will see and catch the Light. It may take a lifetime, but as long as I continue to show love in my correction, I am doing the work that Jesus has asked me to do. That is one of the hardest, if not THE hardest things to do. Know that someone is lying and cheating and still trying to show them love and kindness. Wanting so badly to call them out in front of everyone with the evidence and make them feel lower than hell itself. Putting yourself on a pedestal of righteousness while smashing their self-worth. That is what the ‘world’ says we are to do.
However. The bigger picture is to help them, guide them, plant seeds in them for watering to grow the Kingdom. That is what we are supposed to do. I think my glasses was a subtle hint from Him to remind me of that.
Take a moment today and look for the subtle hints that He has placed before you. Ask for forgiveness in the ways that you have openly ignored His wish and finished with your wish. Then ask Him for guidance on how to better move forward.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like the man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. – James 1:22-24
I have worn glasses since I was 13 years old. Each year my eyes have always progressively gotten worse, as expected with age. I have noticed, however, that in the last few years, the only portion of my eyes that seem to need a little more help is the reading part. So in my ripe old age of forty something, I got my first pair of bi-focal. By early fifties I was into tri-focal lenses. I did finally get a doctor to explain why the different lenses…she politely told me that the muscles in our eyes weaken in our older years and need a little it of a boost. Where at fifty something I did not want to be told I was old…haha…I did appreciate her honesty.
Fortunately for me, the ‘extra’ help has not changed in my last couple of visits, so I have not had to purchase any new glasses. I take care of mine, and my job is not hazardous in that they are ever in danger really of being broken. However, age has gotten the best of them and one lens …the reading part … has completely blurred out. The transitioning cover has started to fail and that caused catastrophic repercussions to the ability to see through that portion. Therefore, in order to read, I must remove my glasses so that I can have a clear picture. The upper portion of the lens is clear and fine, so seeing the bigger objects and normal view is okay, I just cannot use them to read.
I do have a back up pair of single lens glasses, that if I sit on my neighbor’s porch and extend my arms to the other side of town, I can almost see to clear enough to read. Haha. Typing this is challenging…my arms are not quite long enough to make the screen crystal clear … haha.
But I was thinking. What if this was a lesson? Two-piece lesson at that. 1- quit being so cheep about buying new eyewear...haha. 2-what if taking away the reader portion, the fine-tuning portion, the zero in on portion of my glasses … God was asking me to focus more on the bigger picture and not so much the little things. What if the lesson here is for me to focus on what is truly important. Planting and watering…not weeding.
Let that sit in for a minute.
Yes it is my job to correct untruth, but … the manner in which I do it makes all the difference. If you are a liar and a cheat … I constantly call you out on it and in front of others no less, boldly and without love, it will not change you for the better. It will cause you to defend your ‘truth’ which is the lie. However, if you are a liar and a cheat and I correct you by showing you that you are in error by showing you the right way … no matter how many times it takes, then eventually you will see and catch the Light. It may take a lifetime, but as long as I continue to show love in my correction, I am doing the work that Jesus has asked me to do. That is one of the hardest, if not THE hardest things to do. Know that someone is lying and cheating and still trying to show them love and kindness. Wanting so badly to call them out in front of everyone with the evidence and make them feel lower than hell itself. Putting yourself on a pedestal of righteousness while smashing their self-worth. That is what the ‘world’ says we are to do.
However. The bigger picture is to help them, guide them, plant seeds in them for watering to grow the Kingdom. That is what we are supposed to do. I think my glasses was a subtle hint from Him to remind me of that.
Take a moment today and look for the subtle hints that He has placed before you. Ask for forgiveness in the ways that you have openly ignored His wish and finished with your wish. Then ask Him for guidance on how to better move forward.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like the man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. – James 1:22-24
Good morning everyone. Grace and peace be with you.
I have worn glasses since I was 13 years old. Each year my eyes have always progressively gotten worse, as expected with age. I have noticed, however, that in the last few years, the only portion of my eyes that seem to need a little more help is the reading part. So in my ripe old age of forty something, I got my first pair of bi-focal. By early fifties I was into tri-focal lenses. I did finally get a doctor to explain why the different lenses…she politely told me that the muscles in our eyes weaken in our older years and need a little it of a boost. Where at fifty something I did not want to be told I was old…haha…I did appreciate her honesty.
Fortunately for me, the ‘extra’ help has not changed in my last couple of visits, so I have not had to purchase any new glasses. I take care of mine, and my job is not hazardous in that they are ever in danger really of being broken. However, age has gotten the best of them and one lens …the reading part … has completely blurred out. The transitioning cover has started to fail and that caused catastrophic repercussions to the ability to see through that portion. Therefore, in order to read, I must remove my glasses so that I can have a clear picture. The upper portion of the lens is clear and fine, so seeing the bigger objects and normal view is okay, I just cannot use them to read.
I do have a back up pair of single lens glasses, that if I sit on my neighbor’s porch and extend my arms to the other side of town, I can almost see to clear enough to read. Haha. Typing this is challenging…my arms are not quite long enough to make the screen crystal clear … haha.
But I was thinking. What if this was a lesson? Two-piece lesson at that. 1- quit being so cheep about buying new eyewear...haha. 2-what if taking away the reader portion, the fine-tuning portion, the zero in on portion of my glasses … God was asking me to focus more on the bigger picture and not so much the little things. What if the lesson here is for me to focus on what is truly important. Planting and watering…not weeding.
Let that sit in for a minute.
Yes it is my job to correct untruth, but … the manner in which I do it makes all the difference. If you are a liar and a cheat … I constantly call you out on it and in front of others no less, boldly and without love, it will not change you for the better. It will cause you to defend your ‘truth’ which is the lie. However, if you are a liar and a cheat and I correct you by showing you that you are in error by showing you the right way … no matter how many times it takes, then eventually you will see and catch the Light. It may take a lifetime, but as long as I continue to show love in my correction, I am doing the work that Jesus has asked me to do. That is one of the hardest, if not THE hardest things to do. Know that someone is lying and cheating and still trying to show them love and kindness. Wanting so badly to call them out in front of everyone with the evidence and make them feel lower than hell itself. Putting yourself on a pedestal of righteousness while smashing their self-worth. That is what the ‘world’ says we are to do.
However. The bigger picture is to help them, guide them, plant seeds in them for watering to grow the Kingdom. That is what we are supposed to do. I think my glasses was a subtle hint from Him to remind me of that.
Take a moment today and look for the subtle hints that He has placed before you. Ask for forgiveness in the ways that you have openly ignored His wish and finished with your wish. Then ask Him for guidance on how to better move forward.
Be blessed today my friends.
***Do not merely listen to the word, and so deceive yourselves. Do what it says. Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like the man who looks at his face in a mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like. – James 1:22-24
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