Our oldest daughter, Emma, just got her first pair of spectacles (aka glasses). She was complaining of not being able to see the chalkboard in school ("but only in Afrikaans class"). We had her eyes checked, only to find out that she really, really needs to wear spectacles!Emma was quite upset with this news and muttered angrily around the house for a few days, "Why do I have to wear spectacles? I can see just fine! I only need them for Afrikaans class." What it boiled down to was a fear that everyone might stare at her, call her names. She didn't want to feel different.
When her spectacles were ready to be be fetched, she dragged her feet all the way to the eye doctor. "Do I have to wear them as soon as I get them? Can I wait until school starts? Can we fetch them next week?"
Once she got them and wore them for a few hours, she perked up. "I can see! That sign isn't blurry anymore!" Now she keeps her spectacles case by her bed. She puts her specs on first thing in the morning, and takes them off last thing at night.
I wonder how many times we balk at God's provision, preferring to settle for the "blurry vision" because we don't want to look different, have people stare at us, or risk standing out, when what we need all along is a "pair of specs"? I find myself praying for things that I would like, and when God gives me what I need instead of what I want, I complain. Is it possible that what I wanted would have muddled up my vision even further?
My analogy is going slighty awry, but my point, I think, you understand. Perhaps we need to act like adults and put on the specs. We would do well to trust God that in the end, what we need might be better for us than what we want.
2 comments:
Emma is absolutely stunning in spectacles. She is leading the way for about nine other siblings and cousins who may share the same wonderful fate. Hi, beautiful!
Angela - Emma has been at this about a month now and probably is used to the specs now! This is the first time I've "launched" your blog... and there's so much to read and absorb. But I wanted to share about our daughter Kathleen, who is now 17 (hey that rhymes)... Anyway, she had to get glasses when she was about 13 months old, because her right eye had to be covered for three weeks when she was getting her first skin graft on her right cheek. It made the right eye weaker and so Dr. Foster had her patch her left eye, to force her right eye to get stronger and eventually she had to have eye muscle surgery. But I remember, how much she hated the patches and kept tearing them off and eventually wore a sore in her other cheek. Then the glasses came after about a week, and I chalked it up to prayer... well she surrended and realized how much better she could see. That's what we all need to do is surrender, in all our challenges and it's so awesome that Emma is SEEing God's grace in this!
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