SEEING WITH GOD’S EYES
It has been a good summer!
But the Growing Season is ending, and this Saturday —September 23— it will be the first day of the new Harvest Season.
It was a good summer for the Belous family. It started off with the wedding of my middle son. All six of my children, of course, were at the Charlotte, North Carolina celebration. The ceremony was held in a beautiful old chapel, which is right in the middle of a wonderful downtown Charlotte Park.
The summer also included trips to lakes, beaches, kayaking, and long walks. Unfortunately, this was NOT an extraordinary summer for my Yankees. But if some other team had to shine, it might as well do the Baltimore Orioles.
Therese, Robin, and I also enjoyed going to see the movie Barbie wearing pink clothing. Robin and I found the Oppenheimer film to be very thought-provoking.
Of course, one of the great highlights of our summer was the Unity in the Seven Hills picnic/outdoor service/swim at Humankind. It really put Unity in commUnity. I am really looking forward to doing similar U7H events in the fall.
But as summer was winding down, I knew it would soon be time for Robin to go back to college and for Therese to start third grade. In preparation for these transitions, I felt it important for our family to start getting some of our annual doctor visits accomplished.
One of the big visits was our annual excursion to the eye doctor. I was called first to go in and see the eye doctor, and I squinted and strained to read the eye charts projected onto the screen. I’m very appreciative of the new technology they used to give glaucoma tests. With the old technology, I could never force my eyes to stay open for the glaucoma tests. With the new technology, the test is over before your eyelids have a chance to react. I was amazed when the doctor told me I did not need new glasses.
I really learned something when my 8 year-old daughter, Therese, was examined. I was sitting in a visitor’s chair, and I could look up at the screen behind the patient. That screen shows the letters so large that you don’t need glasses to read even the smaller lines. During next year’s eye exam, I’m going to insist that I take the eye exam tests sitting in the visitor’s chair.
It wound up that Robin and Therese got nice new glasses. Then we drove off to buy school supplies. Therese’s karate dojo was collecting school supplies for kids in need, and I was so pleased to see how Therese really got into this effort by her dojo.
In market research circles— which is where I was before I got my call to the ministry— there was a saying that when a person buys a certain brand, they start seeing more of that brand around them. For example, if you purchase a Honda CRV, all of a sudden you start seeing a ton of Honda CRVs on the highway.
Well, after our eye doctor visit, guess what started coming up in my morning spiritual readings? That’s right: I had several readings during prayer meditation time that focused— or at least use the metaphor of— eye exams or eyesight.
One of them was by the author Jenny Lynn Keller. Jenny’s writings really center on her Appalachian Mountain heritage. She writes that she knew it was time to visit the eye doctor when the small print in her Bible “danced across the page in an unreadable blob. “
The doctor told her that she needed bifocals. Her distance vision was fine, “but anything within arm’s length required magnification, unless my arms suddenly grew another 2 feet,” she reported.
Jenny didn’t want bifocals, and she was told that it would take a period of adjustment with the new glasses. The doctor cautioned her to be very careful on steps, and her depth perception would not be accurate for a while.
I wear bifocals, and it did take me a while to adjust to them. “For several days, I held hand rails like a vice grip as my eyes adapted to looking down through the lenses,” she noted.
But despite the difficulties, the print in her Bible again became crystal clear and easy to see. She then decided to read all the references in the Bible that related to eyesight and eyes.
Jenny concluded that the biblical suggestions were quite similar to what her doctor told her: “Watch where I step, stay on solid ground, and don’t hesitate to call if I had questions.” But now she better comprehended the meaning of these words because she “saw through personal experience and clear vision.”
Jenny said that she really started gravitating toward one verse from Psalms: “Open my eyes to see wonderful things in your word. (Psalm 119:18).
Another reading that related to the eyes and seeing was written by Vicki Kuyper. She is the co-author of Nevertheless, Hold on to Faith, which is a touching daily devotional.
Vicki’s six year old granddaughter, Shea, was drawing a picture of herself and her superpower. Vicki asked her granddaughter what her super power was, and Shea said that her superpower was the ability to eat all the candy she wanted. Vicki told her granddaughter that she felt Shea had many other super powers.
Shea looked at her grandmother, and said that she felt that Vicki’s super power was being kind. Vicki told Shea that often she was not that kind.
Shea glanced at her grandmother, and insisted “you’re a lot kinder than you think you are.”
This comment from a six-year-old really took Vicki aback. Vicki wondered if her granddaughter was seeing her more with God’s eyes. Vicki remembered a beautiful line from scriptures.— 1 Peter 4:8: “Above all, love each other deeply, because love covers over a multitude of sins.”
If the word sin rubs you the wrong way, remember that in Hebrew, the word sin comes from archery. It means to miss the mark or the target. I have no problems with admitting that I often miss the mark or the target. But the love that God has for us sees us through and covers all of that.
Vicki added that because she loves her granddaughter “I see the best in her. Because she loves me, she sees me through the eyes of love.” Vicki then said that she wants to see people in the world more through the eyes of God— as Spirit sees us.
All I can say is ‘amen and amen’ to Vicki’s wish.
What a great wish to start off this new school year – – a year of learning – – and a year of productive harvesting.
