For the first time in nearly six years, I went to the eye doctor this Monday. I confess, I only did it because my glasses are starting to show some wear in terms of the protective film that covers them. Not because I thought I needed a new prescription. I thought they worked fine. Little did I suspect that something was amiss.
The interesting thing about these <> glasses is that they are called progressive lenses. They are bi-focals where I look through the top part for distance seeing and the bottom part for close up reading. What makes them progressive is that they change from distance to near without an obvious line marking the spot where they change. And if I tilt my head up or down just right, I can find the sweet spot of focus that brings whatever I am looking at into near perfect focus.
So the doctor brings up the eye chart. No prob, I think. What is the lowest line that you can read. I nail the bottom line, indicating 20/20 without even breaking a sweat. E-V-O-T-Z. Then, without as much as a word, he places his hand on the back of my head, and pushes my head forward until my forehead is touching the top part of the frame of the equipment. “Now, what line can you see?” “Ahhrrgghhh! I confess, I could not even see the third line clearly, which indicate 20/70 vision, though I could tell the letters were T-O-Z.
What I had been doing, while being completely unaware that I was doing it, was to compensate for my failing vision by raising my head till I found the ‘sweet spot’ in those progressive lenses. I literally was looking at texts and computer screens and distance objects by tilting my whole head upward till things came into MY focus, not the natural focus that should have been there with my head level. It is no wonder that my neck hurt by the time I went to bed…
SOOOO, what does this have to do with Lent? I wonder if one of the key aspects of Lent is all about learning to see correctly and then acting upon what we see? We are invited to those disciplines of prayer, fasting and almsgiving, to correct how we see things, and to teach us how to move from a ME-centric perspective – so as to learn how to see things from God’s perspective. And though many of us claim to be doing just that, I wonder how many of us are in reality doing the ‘tilting of the head’ trick, so that things come into focus as WE want them to, and not as they should?
I was completely oblivious to the fact that I was tilting my head to bring my vision into focus. I wonder if I am just as guilty of tilting my conscience so that decisions I make ‘look’ like they are in God’s focus.
• “I’m not gossiping, I am just offering constructive criticism to this person’s co-workers.” <>
• “I am not over-indulging, I am just keeping my stomach acid in check and my health okay by late night snacking.” <>
• “I am not selfish, I am simply putting money aside for my future education/retirement/kids college fund.” <>
• “I am not insensitive to the poor, I just did not have time for that beggar whose eye contact I avoided. I already give to the Vincent DePaul society.” <>
I suspect there might be quite a few ways where we ‘tilt’ reality to make it comfortable for us, and not in line with God’s way of seeing.
This Lent, we are given three practices to “Keep our Head Straight” – because all of them are NOT about us: Prayer – so as to get out of our own head; Fasting – to get out us out of our stomachs; Almsgiving – to get out of our own world/selfishness. These three ways are the means by which the Father invites us to put our heads and hearts straight forward, and to see, not as we want to, but as God desires. They are never ends in themselves. Just the means to the end to see as God sees.
So, the good news is my new glasses have been ordered. In about 7 days, I won’t have to tilt my head up to bring things into proper focus. The good news for us is that we have 40 days to get our vision corrected. <> May we all end up with spiritual 20 -20 vision, or better…