I have taken my sight for granted for far too long. Yesterday afternoon I had an eye exam and walked out practically blind. I’ll be the first to say that I am not the best about taking care of my eye exam on a regular basis. In the state of Georgia, contact lens prescriptions expire after one year. That would indicate to most that you should have an eye exam once a year to make sure things are good to go.I usually refill my contacts online and occasionally lose sight of the once a year exam because I have enough of my daily wear contacts to keep trucking along.
When I do finally go to the eye doctor, they always say, “It’s been a while since we last saw you.” You’d think that would be enough to shame me in to going on a more regular basis…so far it has not. When I get to the eye doctor, I always have to remove my contacts for a few preliminary tests before the doctor comes in. The nurse has me look at a few things while she measures my eye and whatever else all those pictures are used for. I always ask her, “Is this the machine that blows a puff of air in my eye?” I need to be warned about that. Honestly, the puff of air terrifies me more than the idea of swimming in a swamp filled with alligators or spiders crawling on my face while I’m sleeping. I would roefer her to use a ballpoint pen to draw on my eyeball than be surprised by the puff of air. Fortunately….no puff of air.
Once the doctor came in, he checked things out and determined that my eyes have gotten a bit worse and we need to strengthen the prescription a bit. He told me that he needed to dilate my eyes. I’m not a big fan of this either and usually have a great excuse lined up. He reminded me that my last visit they didn’t dilate my eyes because I was “going to the movies” and prior to that, because I was “going water skiing”. I was pretty certain he was on to me, so I agreed to the drops in my eyes. I figured I’d be good to go for the middle school baseball game I had planned to head to after the appointment.
As I was leaving the office, I was reminded that when your eyes are dilated, your nearsighted vision is completely gone. What a riot it must have been to watch me try to put in my new contacts, pay my bill, and find my keys in my purse! I was still set on going to the baseball game.
I drove over to the baseball field and parked. My phone had buzzed a few times with some text messages, so I decided to check those out before I got out of the car. Just to give you an idea of how that went, cover your eyes with your hand so you can’t see at all, then try and look at your phone. Yeah…I couldn’t see anything either.
All of a sudden, it occurred to me that I would be causing a problem for myself if I went to the baseball game. I love to go to NCCS sporting events and other activities to support our students and interact with our parents. I realized that if I went to this baseball game, I wouldn’t have any idea of who I was talking to because I couldn’t see them. Hmmm…I wonder how that would go over??!!
I decided it was in my best interest to drive slowly home so as not to embarrass myself. Those drops were pretty powerful! I called Clint to let him know that I would park in the driveway rather then trying to navigate the garage…he seemed relieved! Emma was sweet to join Clint in making sure that I didn’t wander off. I ended laying around all evening until I finally just went to bed wondering if I’d ever be able to see again.
Woke up this morning and my sight is back! I have really enjoyed reading and looking at things this morning a lot more than I did yesterday morning prior to my temporary blindness. When I opened my Bible, the though hit me that blindness would have prohibited me from studying and knowing more of God’s Word. I was reminded of how often I truly am blinded when I look at the things right in front of me (culture) and miss out on what God is trying to show me. Today I am renewed in the realization that it is such a privilege to see with my own eyes the promises that God fulfills each and every day. I want to SEE more of Him. Now I can see again, how am I going to steward that gift?
2 Corinthians 4:4
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.