From a slow and sudden God: 40 years of wonder.
eating dinner with a friend
who was wearing his new glasses
revealed that his vision
needed help seeing
through this lens
to get a better view,
to see correctly.
i listened again to his words
and his stories—
a contradiction of reality
and self-talk,
of lies and truth,
of deeply planted condemnation
and reality of love and acceptance.
two extremes
battling internally and externally.
we ate dinner.
we talked.
i watched people greet my friend.
they smiled,
revealing the joy they felt
just to see his face,
displaying grace in dialogue,
hitting rewind
and visiting past experiences,
memories of joy.
eating dinner and tasting my food
i could hear conversations of pleasure,
so opposite of the conversations he plays in the stations of his brain.
i dared my friend to change channels.
i pleaded with my friend to shift quickly, then, right then,
to begin listening to
words of grace,
words of confirmation,
words of encouragement.
maybe he needs new glasses
in a different way.
Like your friend with glasses many of us are our own worst enemies. We say the harshest things about ourselves and judge our own actions more than others many times. I find usually when I’m judging my self and speaking contradicting thoughts in my head it is because I want what I’m doing to be perfect. In these moments it is hard to get out of your own head because well your brain is in your head so you’re kind of stuck with these thoughts, but I constantly have to remind myself that I am human as a human it is impossible to always be perfect. Reminding myself that sometimes making a 82 or a 79 isn’t always a bad thing and trying to change my perspective because realistically making a 100 and being at 100 percent all the time is hard.
I like the comparison between seeing life through a new lens and a pair of glasses. I feel like we often make judgments on people before we have on our glasses and that impacts our perception of others. I especially need to view myself differently, and I need a new lens on life to be able to make the most of my experiences. I need to learn that my view of myself translates to others and their views of me, so I need to be realistic and get a new lens on life.
It made me think that I should see life as if I had a new pair of glasses as sometimes I perceive people as different things when I don’t even know them well enough. I think people are so easy not to accept others and in todays society its extremely harmful to communities.
I enjoyed connecting this to my personal life. Similar to your friend, when I devoted my life to Jesus, I saw life in a different way- a way I never realized until it happened. You don’t realize what you were missing until you have more. In a different way, it allows me to realize how much we judge others based on comparisons and views. Like a pair of glasses, we need to judge discerningly but empathetically.
I found that this blog personally relates to my life. It is very easy to get caught up in the bad and to overlook the good. The way I see it is whenever my glasses are dirty I negatively see the world, but when I clean my glasses I see the world clearly and the positivity it brings. It also puts me in a better mood whenever my glasses are clean.
The new glasses are his new vision on life. It’s showing him what is now possible for him to accomplish, and how to have a new way of thinking. The new glasses gave him a new perspective to be more positive than negative. He now looks to God for guidance, rather than figuring it out himself.
It is sometimes difficult to see our life in the view of others, especially when we may view ourselves in a negative way. It is hard to break through this negativity and I see these new glasses as a metaphor for this, breaking through the negative thoughts that you have to be able to enjoy life that is around you. It is not easy as it is said to be to just be happy, to just turn your thoughts around especially during a time of depression.
As people get new glasses to help them see clearer they could also use a better vision on life itself. When glasses are dirty we can be restricted from seeing things clearly but when they are clean we are open to seeing new things. Sometimes we can refuse to get new glasses because we are comfortable with the ones we already have. This can be holding us back from new opportunities and life experiences. Putting on the new glasses can be opening doors to a lot more than just clearer vision.
They speaking on a new lens in him truly seeing the other side of things in my opinion. Jason described it very well speaking on how it’s him looking at the world differently and having a new mindset going into whatever he is going through in that time
The first part of the story reminded me of my grandfather alittle. The story was relatable and I could see my pawpa. He only wore glasses to read. But he need a new lens on life based on his decision.