Bi-focal glasses, longer arms and the coming of age

It happened suddenly and without warning.  I was standing in the vitamin aisle in a WalMart in Kansas City, comparing ingredients on two different brands.  I could read the bold-face word "ingredients," and then it was just a grey blur.  When did all the manufacturers decrease the font size on their labels?

The first sign of aging is not just squinting or holding the text as far as one's arms can bear, but when the conversation turns to the subject of eyesight.  Bifocal lenses? Oh no!  I might as well have AARP is stamped on my forehead.

I passed that place a long time ago.  And bifocals, well, one can finally see again.  Things resume proper shape, and it enables us to perceive the truth about an object.  Yes, that shirt is definitely wrinkled.

The physical ability to see is not just light rays entering the eye.  Any lecturer knows full-well the blank stares of students looking but not seeing.  Vision happens when those rays are transformed by the retina into signals that are transmitted to the brain.

The key is the transformation.

The key is always transformation.  That is what God does best.  He makes things right again, and suddenly, we see all of life differently.  He does not fit us with lenses, but takes off those hideous rhinestone-studded rose-colored glasses we have been using to try to make sense of life.

We are able to know God differently.
We are able to see ourselves differently
                    because we know Him.
And we can finally see
how He sees each one of us:.
               beloved.

And that changes everything.


Because you are precious in My eyes,
and honored,
           and I love you...

                       Isaiah 43.4