For Sight and Vision . . .

   "Open My Eyes That I May See . . ." 

Did you ever stop to think what your senses mean to you?   Taste, Touch, Sight, Hearing and Smell . . . these are the five fundamental human senses.  Lots of us have spent time not only thinking about our senses,  but even talking about them and what we would miss most if we were to lose one of them or which one we would choose to give up if we had to choose.  On a personal level, I have been struggling with changes in my eyesight as well as the fear that I was losing it.  

I wondered about cataracts and if the very tiny ones the doctor observed at my last eye exam had perhaps suddenly gotten "ripe" (meaning surgery and all that goes with it).  I found myself having to use the bottom part of my trifocals to see anything and having to tilt my head to one side in order to bring things like music on the piano rack into focus.  I struggled and was losing the battle completely.  My contacts worked reasonably well, but my eyes have gotten so dry recently that I couldn't wear them but four or five hours a day.  It was just awful for a while. 

Last week the wonderful call I have been waiting for came . . . "Mrs. DeLand, your glasses and contacts are in and you can pick them up any time it's convenient."  With the greatest anticipation I've had in quite a while, I stopped what I was doing, and Terry and I went to Gainesville, GA to pick them up.  I cried when I realized what I had NOT been seeing and how much better I could see as soon as I put on the first pair.  When they were adjusted,  I put on the other pair which are solely for computer work and playing the piano and organ, and I cried some more!!  I realized in a short second that I was REALLY going to be able to see to play my Christmas concert in December, and that I might REALLY be able to read again . . . just the thought of being able to pick up a book or my e-reader and actually read something to myself brought me to tears. 

Why tears?   Tears of GRATITUDE for all that went into getting my new glasses and my contacts . . . tears of thanks and love and gratitude to those who played a VERY important part in enabling me to experience this miracle of renewed eyesight!!!  

By now, you must know that today's thankfulness is about eyesight, and being thankful for eyes and for those who can help preserve my sight for as long as possible, but it's about more than just the mechanics of seeing images and words on a page.   I am thankful beyond words for that part of it, but I am thankful as well for vision.  Have you ever thought, as I am now, about the difference between eyesight and vision?  I am beginning to conclude that the difference is immense.  

Eyesight requires several physical things, all in working order . . . a retina, a cornea, an iris, a lens, blood supply, sometimes intervention by an optician to correct any deficiency, and an optic nerve - to mention a few.  The assumption that we're able to "see" if all these things are present and working properly, is a reasonable one, and the expectation that "seeing" will result is perfectly in order.  Eyesight is the ability to detect light, or stars in the sky, or words on a page, or colors and shapes, smiles and frowns, other facial expressions, and on goes the list.

Vision, on the other hand, implies (at least to me) a different scope and realm - one which moves way beyond simply discerning images, etc.   Vision implies understanding and discernment of purpose or intent, and to dream and plan, etc.   We can use our eyesight to "see" and still fail to have "vision". I believe the reverse is often true, as well,  because it is not unusual for people who have been blind from birth to still have great vision - - - great understanding and discernment of what has been and is and can be in the future.   

My Grandmother was always saying, "So-and-So is so blind, he/she can't see the forest for the trees."   I think that's another way of saying that the object of her scorn was lacking in vision even though their eyesight might have been excellent.    The original words that she was paraphrasing come from Jeremiah 5:21  "O foolish people, and without understanding; which have eyes, and see not; which have ears and hear not . . . "   (KJV)  

A LOT of us are fond of saying  "Seeing is believing", and, to a certain extent, that is probably undeniable, particularly in the realm of hard-core science.  We "see" water, for instance, and we "believe" it is wet.  Consider, if you will, however;  that very often (maybe even MORE often), we tend to operate with a sense of "Believing is seeing".   

This is true in so many arenas of our lives  . . .  medicine, religion, politics to name three . . .  and we so often fail to "see it".   In the medical world it is obvious at times that our physicians are using "filters"- otherwise known as "specialties" - to diagnose and prescribe treatment for us when we're sick.   I have personally had the experience of seeing three different "specialists"  with the same set of symptoms list. 

Conversations sometimes go something similar to this:  "Doctor, I have a terrible pain in my hip when I walk."  An Orthopedist will "believe" my hip needs surgery to replace it.  A Neurologist will "believe" my surrounding nerves are inflamed.   A Pain Medicine Specialist will treat the "suffering" from the pain without considering other options.    Same symptoms - same patient - three different diagnoses.  Each doctor is ABSOLUTELY certain THEIR answer is the "REAL ONE".   The filter of their specialty can shut out other causes, and make them certain that they are "seeing" the truth of the situation.   They SEE what reinforces what they BELIEVE to be "the truth".  

Or consider politics - we have good folks who are Liberals or Progressives or Conservatives or Libertarians or Independents and each side faithfully and earnestly "sees" proof of the truth of THEIR position as the only possible way that things could be.   It comes from each group.  We "SEE" what we "BELIEVE" - what reinforces our personally-held "pet positions", and unless we are very careful and very intentional about keeping our minds open to the possibility that we might be wrong about some part of it, or that we don't hold the ONLY truth,  we easily become angry and contentious with any who dare to disagree. 

It happens in the Church - - - each denomination and group within the church (and without it) is CERTAIN that everybody who disagrees with them is wrong or evil or mean-spirited, etc,.   They "SEE" the proof of their version of the truth  . . .  i.e., what they believe already.  

It's another one of those complex issues that comes equipped with NO pat explanations and/or instructions.  It is part of living out one's life in, as John Wesley often said, "going on to perfection".    What's really really important, I think, is that while each of us works on that part of it, we are kind and loving and understanding and forgiving of each other  - warts and all!!!

I'm thankful for those times when I have a modicum of "vision" beyond the end of my nose . . . a glimpse of how things COULD be and so on and so forth.  

I'm about "thought out" for the day . . . it's been a wonderful day - sunny and crisp, with excellent worship services this morning - I used my "new" eyesight in playing the piano for one of the worship hours - lunch with good friends,  a nice visit this afternoon with the friend who is going to teach me to crochet - capped off by a nice dinner which I just finished.  Most of all, it's been a day of 'Thanksliving'  . . . 

All I can add to this tonight are the words of the hymnwriter who 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."  (Public Domain)

See you tomorrow - - - a bit earlier, I hope!!