When Your Vision Changes

Toddlers with glasses are so adorable and sad at the same time.  That was me.  I got my first pair of glasses when I was two years old, before I can even remember.  I was that cute tow-headed kid with coke bottles on his face.  Over the years, my prescription didn’t change that much–until I hit my forties.  Yep–that’s when my vision changed and I started having to make all kinds of adjustments.  I’ve tried progressive lenses, monovision lenses combined with readers, and two different types of “bifocal contacts” (I’m sure opticians and ophthalmologists would offer a correction to my terminology.)  When your vision changes, if you don’t make some adjustments, you’re definitely going to end up bumping into things.

It was the same when I left full-time ministry, moved across the country, and became a case manager.  Suddenly, my field of vision changed, and I had to make some adjustments.  I had to ask myself, “If I believe God called me into ministry, what does that mean for me now?”  I had to understand that what I’m doing is still ministry, just in a different setting.  And I had to REALLY grasp that which I’d been preaching to my congregations for years: Every believer is a minister, right where they are, no matter what they’re doing.  So, if I worked in a restaurant or in a bookstore or in an auto shop or the Pentagon, I’d be doing ministry of one kind or another.  It’s just that, as my vision changed, I needed to make some adjustments.

In Acts 16, Paul planned to take his missionary journey deeper into Asia.  Instead, he had a vision of a man from Macedonia, imploring him to “come and help us.”  It was the opposite of what Paul had planned.  He wanted to go east, but God was sending him west.  He wanted to zig, but God wanted him to zag.  His vision was changing, and he needed to make some adjustments.  So he followed the new thing–and if you’re a Western Christian, you can thank Paul for saying “yes” in that pivotal moment.  If you find yourself in a place in life where your vision is changing, consider making the proper adjustments so you can follow the new path that’s being laid out for you.  A “yes” to God can make all the difference, not just for you, but for others whose lives you will touch.

In Mark 8, Jesus healed a blind man.  The man experienced a progressive healing, saying at first that the people around him looked like “trees, walking around.”  Then, Jesus touched him again, and his vision was completely restored.  Sometimes when our vision changes, it may be progressive.  In fact, God rarely gives you an entire vision all at once.  Five years ago, if God had given me a look at what my life would be like today, I couldn’t have handled it.  But God changed my vision bit by bit in a way that I could handle–and I was able to adjust my vision to fit the greatest adventure of my life.  If your vision is a little fuzzy, trust God that bit by bit, it will become clear.  

Remember, even in those times when you can’t see at all, “we walk by faith, and not by sight (2 Corinthians 5:7).”  It was faith, not sight, that got me into the eye doctor at age two, before I got my glasses.  It was faith, not sight, that brought the blind man to Jesus.  And it’s faith, not sight, that will give you the openness to allow God to help you make adjustments, as your vision changes.

©Gregory T. Smith. Greg is a caseworker serving the homeless community in the Pacific Northwest. To read more of his articles, log onto revgregsmith.blogspot.com.