Guest Post: Obscured Vision

I think you’ll enjoy Jeannette Duwe’s perspective in today’s guest post. I’m enjoying this respite from everyday life and look forward rejoining you next week. Pop over to Jeannette’s blog, The Ironing Board, to check out more of her great writing. Be inspired!

“You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
— Jeremiah 29:13 NIV

“Oh, kids! Look at the prairie dogs,” my mother cheerfully exclaimed as she pointed out the car window.

“Where? Where?!” I cried, devastated that I was the only one in the car unable to see them. My two older brothers never seemed to share my difficulty seeing things, in fact my sweet German Grandmother, “Oma,” nick-named one of them “eagle eye.”

I remember feeling frustrated for years, but how could I know something was wrong with my vision when I had never seen with clarity?

When I was about 11, an eye doctor said I was significantly near-sighted and I received my first pair of eye glasses.

Donning them for the first time in that doctor’s office, I felt self-conscious and awkward, but the car ride home was an entirely different story. Lifting them up and down to see the contrast in my vision, I was astonished by what I’d been missing. I truly could not believe my eyes!

While I had previously seen the world around me, I never saw it with such precision. To see the outline of the trees topping the mountains at a great distance was an incredible experience I will never forget. My new lenses offered a crisp perspective on familiar sights.

That pair of glasses changed everything about the way I saw the world in which I lived.

Some 20 years later, I had a similar awakening when I became a parent. But this time, instead of physical lenses resting on the bridge of my nose, it was the baby I cradled in my arms who refocused my vision and ultimately changed everything about the way I saw the world, myself, and most importantly, God.

As I related to my child, I began to better understand various facets of God’s character as well as how He interacts with me. I knew I wanted to be more like Him. Soon, I began seeing “God reflections” in otherwise ordinary events of my day. These serendipitous moments lead to a wonderful discovery for me: big miraculous signs and wonders are not necessary to see and experience God. Instead, God often works through the understated moments in life to reveal his character and power, and to draw us closer to Him.

If only we would quiet our hearts to listen.

God promises us in Jeremiah 29:13 that He will be found by us when we seek Him with all our heart. What is blurring your vision today?

Posted in Guest Posts