I am myopic. Have been nearly all my life. I can barely recall what it is to not see only extreme fuzziness without glasses.

And I am not alone. According to an article by Fabian Yii on The Fab Vision blog, based on reliable statistics and projections, by next year 34% of the world’s population will be short-sighted. (Full article at: https://www.thefabvision.com/2018/04/03/countries-myopia-short-sighted-world-prevalence/ )

Myopia of the eyes, however, is not the only – nor indeed the most serious – form of the condition. We cannot always clearly see how:

• Our habits may be harming us…and others
• Some choices in this moment will likely affect us negatively in the long run
• The hardships and struggles we face today could very well be resolved in the near future
• The kindness we show to others really does brighten the world and change things for the better, one day and one person at a time

This year, we have already explored how we can be fully known and learn from that experience to more rightly know ourselves and others. And we have also considered what it means to be loved first so that we can more effectively love. When we have been seen — in all our greatness and strength…and in all our brokenness and pain — we learn to see.

To see God, self, neighbors, and the world differently.

It’s like having myopia and getting fitted for corrective lenses.

I don’t remember exactly what caused me to know I could no longer see as clearly as before. Perhaps it was something my kindergarten teacher noticed and mentioned to my parents. At any rate, I only know that it wasn’t until the eye doctor first set the “right” prescription of test lenses over my eyes that I became aware of just how fuzzy the world had started to become.

And when I began to see more accurately, the world was both clearer and brighter.

In the next few weeks, we’ll explore together how we can handle both the positive things and the hard things when we see them with corrected vision.