I had cataract surgery this morning. (Yes, I’m of a certain age.) So lately, because of my upcoming procedure, readings about seeing have “caught my eye.” (Groan if you must…)

Anyway, here’s what is dawning on me. It’s good to see with utter openness. To let nature teach me. To let bad stuff teach me. To let dread teach me. To let God teach me, even if it goes against what I could previously see.

Nature teaches me cycles, resilience, unmanufactured beauty, miracles, growth, wonder, the repetitive nature of nature.

Bad stuff teaches me trust, lessons, and that bad stuff isn’t the end-all.
 
About dread. I dread the 2024 election, but maybe God has something up his sleeve. Maybe he wants me to dive in and figure out what that is. To become part of the solution. To see dread as opportunity.

I’ve noticed that God is full of lovely surprises. Not always. Bad stuff certainly happens. But maybe the bad consumes too much of us because we don’t have the eyes to see more clearly. Once upon a time, Jesus’s disciples asked him why he spoke in parables. He said that those who have the eyes to see and the ears to hear will understand. (See the whole thing in Matthew 13.)

So here I am with an eye patch on my left eye, squinting to see out of my right eye (to be operated on next week), writing about seeing. Ha! But maybe it’s an apt metaphor. When I take the patch off, I can see!

Maybe our eye patches are the false stories we tell ourselves about self and others. They keep us from seeing the beautiful truth.