Open My Eyes That I May See

At most, I have about two dozen pairs of earrings. A few pairs that I bought as souvenirs while on vacation are set aside in boxes, but the rest are just tossed into a small glass container. Not surprisingly, these earrings get tangled up with each other quite often. This morning was one of those mornings. Too lazy to search for my reading glasses, I tried to detangle this mess. It quickly became apparent that my earrings weren’t going to come apart easily. So, I tossed the whole container onto the bathroom counter and started placing one earring at a time back into the jar. 

Surprisingly, there were only two earrings that were actually intertwined. So, I gave in and put on my glasses, and the earrings were separated in mere seconds. What, at first, seemed like a complicated mess actually turned out to be quite simple to remedy – once I knew what to focus on.

Another challenge I faced this week involved my husband’s tool set. I can’t count how many times I’ve picked up this case of tools only to open it the wrong way. The result – a mess of mismatched sockets. Not all of the tools came crashing down, but plenty were dislodged and were laying in a pile before me. Ugh! It was time for me to once-and-for-all figure out how this tool set worked. It can’t be that hard, right?

Okay, so the variations of sockets included the obvious – size differences (big to little, thick to thin and metric versus inches). But, then there were openings in the sockets that had…

• Little squares
• Big squares
• Octagons
• Circles
• Zig Zags
• and Indents (for lack of the correct term)

And, so I began. This one goes here, that one goes over there. Yay! I was starting to have some real success. But no matter how close I got to figuring it out – all 144 pieces - there were always leftover sockets and spots that I just couldn’t get filled in. The pieces just didn’t fit together.

Help! I didn’t want to give up (after all, I created the mess!), but I did need some guidance. What should I focus on – circles, squares or octagons? My husband sweetly took a moment to see what in the world I was talking about. Soon we were both speaking the same language. Suffice it to say, the system was simple. Beyond the metric vs inches (aka standard), there were three sets of squares – small, medium and large. (It didn’t matter how thick/thin or tall/short the socket was at this point. Whew!) But, then on the flip side, the tooth count mattered. Okay, I think I got this!

Armed with this new knowledge and insight, it only took five minutes to get all of the jumbled tools resting neatly in their rightful place. It all made sense now! I finally felt successful, and my husband was amazed to later find out that there weren’t any missing pieces – or extras!

In both circumstances, I wasn’t focused clearly on the most important part of the puzzle. In the case of my earrings, I was looking in the right place but my eyesight was not clear. However, my glasses were on and my eyesight was clear when I was working with the tools, but I didn’t know what I was really looking at. Once I knew what the key distinctions were, I quickly grasped the order and way in which the tool set fit together.

As I closed the tool case, and marked TOP – in clear, dark letters on the top of the case – I couldn’t help but see a correlation to the ‘ah ha’ moments in our spiritual growth, our Biblical insights and in ministry as a whole. What we focus on is pivotal to our understanding and effectiveness. It sets the stage for how we discern and distinguish Biblical truths and how we react in challenging situations. Once we have one piece of the puzzle solidly in place, we’ve set a foundation for other key theological and spiritual insights to suddenly become clear. Situations or Biblical truths that have seemed deep, complicated and mysterious can actually be seen as plain as day when we take the time to ask for God’s guidance and seek to focus in on the things that really matter.

A hymn written in 1895 speaks to this desire. It was written by Clara Scott and is thought to be based off of Psalm 119:18 which says, “Open my eyes that I may see wonderful things in your law.” May we each be given a fresh look at and understanding of God’s Word, His Truth, this year. May our eyes be opened to see all that God has for us to see. May we not get caught up in the messes of life, but seek God’s guidance in all things so that we can live in the light of His freedom and grace. Are you ready to stand silently before God waiting to see life through His eyes?

Open My Eyes That I May See

Open my eyes, that I may see

Glimpses of truth Thou hast for me;

Place in my hands the wonderful key

That shall unclasp and set me free.

Refrain

Silently now I wait for Thee,

Ready my God, Thy will to see,

Open my eyes, illumine me,

Spirit divine!

Open my ears, that I may hear

Voices of truth Thou sendest clear;

And while the wave notes fall on my ear,

Everything false will disappear.

Open my mind, that I may read

More of Thy love in word and deed;

What shall I fear while yet Thou dost lead?

Only for light from Thee I plead.

Open my mouth, and let me bear,

Gladly the warm truth everywhere;

Open my heart and let me prepare

Love with Thy children thus to share.

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