Friday, February 15, 2013

2/15/13 by Doug Given


When I first heard the Lenten blog theme was “Focus” I naturally thought about the idea of concentrating on one thing – the most important thing.
But “focus” has another, somewhat different, meaning. When you bring something into focus it changes from fuzzy and indistinct, from something with no well-defined boundaries, into something clear.  I was talking with some coworkers about how our vision changes as we age. One talked about how she had denied her nearsightedness for years; she didn’t think there was anything wrong with her vision. But finally, after much prodding, she went to the eye doctor and got prescription glasses. Suddenly the world was crisp and distinct. She saw details she hadn’t seen before. Things popped and sparkled. Yes, there was dirt in the corners she hadn’t notices and more lines on her face than she recalled but there were also stars in the sky and quaking leaves in the trees. The world was different – wonderfully so.
And so it is when Christ enters our lives. It is no trivial thing that giving sight to the blind is a common theme in Christ’s ministry. As our Lord begins the transforming work of remaking us in his image our blindness gives way to clearer sight, to seeing the world in a new way. On one hand we see a world that is gritty, austere, and hopeless. A world tangled in its lostness, beyond fixing.  But we are also able, perhaps for the first time and certainly more clearly than ever before, to see the beauty He has made, the glory that each of us is imbued with and the hope that we have in His power to renew his lost creation – including us.

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