Cataracts & Other Painful Corrections

In a charming candle lit dining room in Montreal, efficient waiters are delivering seafood platters one after the other.  Several tables are laid out in close proximity. As I contemplate my options, I lean into the diner next to me.  “Excuse me,” I ask, ” what’s that type of shellfish on your platter?” With crinkled brow, a fresh faced ingenue leans over and says, giggling, “Um, that’s the hot sauce bottle!” This embarrassing incident marked the beginning of a journey involving cataracts and other painful corrections.

Eyesight & Epiphany

It wasn’t the first or the last time I’d end up red faced about my impaired vision. Or feel like a 101 year-old. For the uninformed, cataracts are essentially a clouding of the eyes. They lead to a decrease in overall vision clarity. It takes years for this condition to fully manifest itself. Like the frog in the pot with the heat turned way up, a person with cataracts doesn’t immediately realize the gravity of their situation. If left untreated, a person can become totally blind. I’m getting mine removed in a few weeks, thankfully.

My wakeup call came when I began missing exits. I was unable to read upcoming signs. My social media posts featured pics with eyes closed. Then there was the time I misread a price while shopping and paid way more for a robe at the point of purchase than I would have if I’d only properly read the tag! Ah, the price we pay for delay.

Literally not seeing prompted me to recognize some hard truths about myself. I see now that Im far more arrogant than I ever realized. I once thought of myself as a humble person. But I’m so proud of my humility! What I could see in my mind became far more important than what I could literally see in front of me. As I looked in the mirror and could not spot my chin hairs, I instead saw that I cared too much about my appearance. I observed that I was neglecting the inner beauty that can only come through loving others more than myself. I learned that when my literal vision is obscured, my spiritual vision blooms like a morning glory at the break of dawn

Admitting Impairment & Seeking Correction

Sadly, we can’t amend what’s in need of repair until we acknowledge what’s broken. I faced up to my cataract problem and the inevitable upcoming surgery. And I had to open the eyes of my heart to see what impaired my spiritual vision as well. I found a trusted surgeon to undertake the task of removing what blinds me. Thankfully, I also serve a God who is the Great Physician, He helps me cut away like nobody else can what needs removing from the eyes of my heart. He continually saves me from myself.

Truth be told, we view God’s direction better when we rely on His leading more than our flawed vision. “For we walk by faith, not by sight, as we read in 2 Corinthians 5:17. It’s no accident when Jesus heals a man who was born blind in John 9:1-12. We are all born blind until we see with the help of the Holy Spirit. Only then can we take in our horizon through God’s eyes. Even after we are given sight, circumstantial “cataracts” will come our way. The Enemy will use them to distort and pervert our vision, plans and purpose. Just as we go to the eye doctor for a regular checkup with the measuring stick called the eye chart, so must we study His word so we can determine our shortcomings. Only then can we chart our progress and re-evaluate our goals and plans.

Mirages vs. Landscapes

It’s hard for us to admit, but we cannot always believe what, in our minds eye, we think we see. There is a famous line in Joni Mitchell’s song “Big Yellow Taxi.” Mitchell sings, “Don’t it always seem to go/That you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone.” I remember writing my book and effortlessly reading the words on the screen a few months back and as I write this now I can barely make them out. The same may be said of my moral compass if I take my eyes off of God and His Word.

Emotions and feelings threaten to become the cataracts growing on our character. Before we know it, we’ve strayed so far from who we were in Christ that we forget who we are. In James 1:23-24, we read of the person who deceives himself. “Anyone who listens to the word but does not do what it says is like someone who looks at his face in the mirror and, after looking at himself, goes away and immediately forgets what he looks like.” Like me, perhaps you can relate to this scenario. David, no stranger to character compromise, writes in Psalm 119:18: “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.”

Milk & Honey

When we are honest, the law doesn’t always feel or seem wonderful. We gravitate to the mirage of our desires. Those often run contrary to God’s landscape filled with milk and honey. We think God should see things our way instead. David goes on to say in verse 123 of Psalm 119 that his eyes fail as he looks for salvation and God’s righteous promise. Our eyes cannot save us and in fact our eyes can even betray us if we don’t keep them fixed on God. Satan puts an idea in my head that doesn’t feel very far from what’s right because I haven’t kept myself well-versed in His laws or prayed for a spirit of obedience. Then before I know it, I’ve stumbled and cannot clearly see where I am headed.

We can ask God to remove the cataracts of temptation and distraction. In part two of this series, I will bare my soul about some corrections God has in mind for my literal and spiritual eyes. Different knives will be wielded by different physicians earthly and by the One in the heavenly realm. I will endure pain and sacrifice. But the eyes of my body and heart will be opened in new and powerful ways, all in a way that will hopefully glorify God. Sojourn with me as we look at what holds back our visions and vow to throw off what hinders our world view and our spiritual pilgrimage that ideally will take us on a closer walk with Him.