New glasses.....

     I have worn glasses for about as far back as I can remember.  My eyesight was so bad in one eye that I sported a patch over my right eye for about a year of my childhood.  This was before the coolness of pirates today, with the likes of Johnny Depp as Jack sparrow and all.  I was made fun of and hated my patch and quite frankly hated my glasses.  It was not pleasant to hear the names and taunts all because of my thick, ugly (imo) glasses.  It was around age 11 that I decided I would do without them.  I was living my life glasses free.  It was awesome.  Only when I would read for more than 10 minutes or so would my head hurt and I would have to squeeze my eyes to “get them to work” again.  It was not so bad.  I was not made fun of and honestly I forgot I even needed them after a while.  I got my drivers licence even.  I drove with no glasses.  It is a scary thought actually.

     When I married my husband he noticed that I would frequently squeeze my eyes while reading and asked if he could take me to the eye doctor.  I reluctantly agreed and went.  The doctor had a field day with me.  By the end of the exam he had ordered me contacts and glasses.  It was not what I wanted, but my husband was insistent that I be able to see.  A week or so later my contacts and glasses arrived and I popped the contacts in.  It was a strange feeling.  I could see better, but somehow the new prescription made me feel a little nauseated and dizzy after a while.  Those of you who wear glasses and have to get a new prescription every now and then will understand this sensation.  It was not pleasant.  I wanted to take them out immediately.  I was aware that the doctor told me to keep them in at least 5 hours a day to help my eyes strengthen and get used to the new prescription but I was NOT comfortable AT ALL. 

     I just had this same experience a few weeks ago, I had a brand new pair of glasses with a slightly stronger prescription prescribed to me.  I put the glasses on the day I got them and after 20 minutes I called the eye doctor to tell them they must have messed up the prescription because it was making me feel nauseated.  It had been probably 12 years since any significant change to my prescription and this new one was NOT working for me.  I drove to the doctors office, had them inspect my glasses, only to be told that the prescription was only slightly stronger than my last one and that I needed to give it time to allow my eyes to strengthen and get used to the new prescription. 

     Isn’t that how we view a new direction or calling that God places on our lives?  We get so comfortable in the place we are (physically and spiritually) that we freak out if God calls for a “new prescription” and it makes us feel “nauseated”.  We fight it, we take the other way, we stay where we are.  All because the strengthening that is needed to follow God’s direction is “new” and “not what we are used too.”  We tell ourselves, “God called me to where I am NOW ..Why would he want me to move?”  Just like a new pair of glasses with a stronger prescription so is the Voice of God when He speaks to our hearts to do something sometimes.  

     I think about Abraham, a man who had God tell him to leave EVERYTHING and go to a place that God WOULD tell him.  WOULD tell him, not “hey, you are going to go here, now and here is the plan.”  I personally find that thought terrifying.  Yet, Abraham obeyed and went.  I want to have faith like that.  I want to follow God’s voice and direction like that.  The calling of God on our lives may not be as dramatic as packing up everything and going to only God knows where…but it can still be like that pair of new glasses.. needed to strengthen our “sight”.  It may make us uncomfortable for a while, but it is what is called for in order for us to “see.”