I was not blessed with good eyesight, but I didn't know how bad it really was until I was 10 years old. My mom took me to the eye doctor, and I've been "needing help" ever since. Glasses for 5 years, contacts for 40+ years, Lasik surgery (in Ecuador, if you can believe it), more glasses, cataract surgery, now glasses absolutely imperative for playing the piano or writing on this computer keyboard. My night vision is scary, so I try to avoid driving after dark whenever possible.
In other words, I have a hard time seeing the world around me with complete clarity from a 20/20 vision chart standpoint. But at this point in my life, I have a hard time seeing and understanding what is happening in many aspects of my surroundings.
Two days ago we watched President Trump depart the White House and President Joe Biden take the oath of office. Congress is heavily divided. The country is heavily divided. I was a conservative Christian WAY before Trump became President. I've been a conservative Christian for most of my life, and I expect to remain one. How will that be challenged in the days ahead? The path forward, if you can believe the news pundits, looks murky.
I have 3 children, 3 children-in-law, and 15 grandchildren. Their futures appear blindingly bright, but I can't gaze into those futures to know what hurdles might come their way.
Steve and I will celebrate 50 years of marriage in just 2 months. Oh, how I would love to have 50 more years with this man, but I imagine these next couple of decades will become tough, even painful. In this case, I'm resolved to enjoying each day as it comes.
Our church and, in fact, most churches have been closed for a number of months now because of the pandemic. Many who were attending with some regularity have become accustomed to watching online or NOT attending at all. I believe it won't be easy to bring them all back. Maybe I'm wrong. Perhaps we're finding new, improved ways to BE the church while we're separated physically.
I spent 5 years having a great time as a travel writer, then March 2020 arrived, and my travel was severely curtailed. I plan to get the Covid vaccine as soon as possible, but in the meantime, many great restaurants and attractions have closed because they couldn't survive without customers. What will travel and travel writing look like moving forward? Do I need to move in a different direction?
In all of these areas and many more, I'm "seeing through a glass darkly" (as the King James Version describes it in 1 Corinthians 13) right now. How about you?
My son Matt wrote a post recently about the 30,000-foot view we can get when we read the Scripture and find that God knows "the plan" from beginning to end, even when the individual pieces of the puzzle don't appear to fit. https://mattpearsononline.com/making-sense-of-it-all/ He has a great quote: "There are times and moments and seasons when God chooses to show us what He’s up to. There are times He doesn’t. But one of the many magnificent things the Bible does is remind us that there is a big picture that helps us make sense of it all."
These words with this perspective helped me when I read them, and they're helping me today.
I can't see clearly right now, but God can. I don't know the future, but God does. I dread what may happen, but God knows the whole picture and will be there to rescue me and you. It's time to trust, to "stop striving," and watch Him work.
1 Corinthians 13:12 -- "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully, just as I also have been fully known."
2 Corinthians 4:18 -- "while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal."
Hebrews 4:13 -- "And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him to whom we must answer."
2 Corinthians 5:7 -- "for we walk by faith, not by sight"
Psalm 119:18 -- "Open my eyes, that I may behold wonderful things from Your Law"
Psalm 146:8 -- "The Lord opens the eyes of those who are blind; The Lord raises up those who are bowed down; The Lord loves the righteous."
Psalm 46:10 -- "Stop striving (many translations say "be still") and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted on the earth.”
Which Scripture verses are you clinging to right now?