We give thanks for new sight.

Matthew 7:1-8


This week we give thanks for glasses, contacts, bifocals, night goggles, 3-D glasses... all those tools we use to see the world in a whole new way. How thankful we are that we don't have to just see things in our blurred views of the world, but can have instruments available to us that can give us a whole new view of things?

A couple of months ago, Todd and I went to see the 75th anniversary re-release of The Wizard of Oz in theaters.  This time the movie wasn't like I had seen it before. It was in IMAX 3-D.  Unlike anything you have ever thought that movie could be.  The Wicked Witch of the West on a giant screen and a little popped out in 3-D.  Intense.  Very intense.  But the 3-D IMAXness of it all gave me new vision and new insights into some of the imagery in the movie that I had never noticed before, so it was like seeing the movie again for the first time.

If you got eyeglasses as a child because of poor vision, you can relate to this, as well. Remember what happened the first time you put on a pair of glasses and could ACTUALLY see the world? I felt like someone had cleaned up Knoxville, Tennessee for me. I was amazed at how different the world looked. So amazed. I can still see that scene in my mind's eye even today. And that was 35 years ago.

Today's gospel lesson speaks to us of what we see and don't see in the world around us. It reminds us to be careful what we notice about those around us... to take caution that we are fist noticing what is going on with OURSELVES before we decide to judge too harshly our neighbors.

Why do you see the speck in your neighbor's eye, but do not notice the log in your own eye? 4 Or how can you say to your neighbor, "Let me take the speck out of your eye,' while the log is in your own eye? 5 You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your neighbor's eye. 

That speck that we complain about in our neighbor's eye may be a problem for you, maybe even a problem for many, but this reminds us that our first order of business as those who want to model the way of Christ is to notice what logs we have in our own eyes first.  Kind of like putting on the oxygen mask before you offer help to another.  Notice what you need to do for your own 'stuff' first before railing on someone else's 'stuff.'

A few weeks ago I struggled all day long with a little tear in a contact lens. Those of you who wear them know that a tiny tear might be smaller than a speck, but feels like a log in the eye. I told Anna, the office admin, that I should really just sit down that very day and write the sermon about the log in my own eye.  The burden and the aggravation I was carrying around by not dealing with that contact lens IS a parallel to the burden and aggravation we carry around when we don't deal with the stuff that keeps us from being the Christians we are called to be.  The next part of this scripture reminds us to ask, seek, and knock and doors will open for us.  To be open to the Spirit moving in our lives will help us to take the log away for good.

What new vision or new insights into the world have you had? What was life like for you once you got a new pair of glasses, either in reality or metaphorically?  Email me or comment below.