by Patsy Grubb
This morning I sat at my computer totally focused on what was before me. As I looked up from the computer screen I realised that I could not focus clearly on anything else because all I could see were finger prints and other dirty smudges on my glasses. My glasses were filthy and really did limit greatly what I could see around me. I was totally unaware of any impairment to my vision while I was focused on the computer screen, however, it would have been impossible to have been seeing clearly with the amount of dirt that was on my glasses. I cleaned my glasses and of course could once again see clearly, free from any distortion.
Life can very much mirror the above situation. There are times when we can become so focused on what is staring us in the face that we lose any real perspective of the bigger picture. We become so focused and often obsessive about a moment in time or an offence, comment, incident, action, etc. that we lose all perspective on what God is doing and indeed where we are or could be in God in the bigger picture. Similarly the every-day “stuff” in our lives has the ability to cloud our vision and in turn our judgment, and unfortunately we are not always aware that we are not seeing things clearly until we are alerted by a third party or our own reaction. Often we will react to a gesture, word, or event in a way which is totally over the top before we realise we have somehow become unbalanced in our view or discernment. We can become over sensitive or we can become insensitive to both situations and people. Either of which will distort our perspective.
In regard to the glasses, some of the dirt on them which then caused a distorted view, would have originated with me but also some of the residue would have originated from others and also simply from the atmosphere /environment in which I had been. Similarly the “stuff” in our lives which distorts our perception will come from ourselves, others and different spiritual atmospheres/environments we inhabit. Just as any type of focal lens needs regular cleaning in order for it to serve its purpose properly - in order to keep our perspective clear and untainted we must allow the Holy Spirit to continually clear the residue of sin, pain, offence, un-forgiveness, etc. from our soul. Our soul (mind, will, and emotions) will dictate to us our perception of God, others and ourselves and therefore needs to be continually submitted and surrendered to the Holy Spirit. Only once our souls are healed are we able to have correct discernment and perception. Similarly just as we need our vision checked on a regular basis by an optometrist to ensure that our glasses lenses are still the correct strength for our vision impairment, we regularly need to consult the Holy Spirit to ensure our healing has gone deep enough to continually facilitate clear vision and discernment of God, others and ourselves.