On These Things

“There’s a small hemorrhage in your left eye,” she said. “We need you to come back.” Wait, huh? Really? I was just there for a routine exam, to get some new glasses. I didn’t expect to be told something was wrong. But there I was, shoe squarely on the other foot. After all, am I not the one who should be making these kinds of calls? Nonsense. Am I not both doctor and patient? And could not bad things happen to any of us?

(My recheck eye appointment revealed a normal eye... no hemorrage. For this I am so thankful!)

Such tiny, exquisite organs, these retinas of ours. Just several cells in thickness, they are elaborately configured for providing crisp resolution in the center of our vision as well as the detection of minor movements in the peripheral parts. So critical to our lives, yet we pay them such little regard.

Meet my left retina. The darker spot on the right is
the macula, where millions of cones gather light and
color to provide the center of my eyesight with
crispness and clarity. The vast majority of the
retina provides for our peripheral vision.

God has seen fit to give me good eyesight and, the way I see it, I need to repay this kindness by using my eyesight for things that please Him. Like seeing and serving the poor and seeing and battling injustice. Like seeing deep human need so I might do something about it.

On these things I have set my sight. On these things I have chosen to focus.

"Let your eyes look straight ahead, fix your gaze directly before you."  Proverbs 4:25