Vanity, thy name is contacts.

Okay, I'll admit it. I am blind as a bat. Thanks to diabetes, some days more than others it seems. Since discovering I am diabetic, one of the challenges has been adjusting my vision apparel so that I don't walk around like I'm drunk! I've worn contacts for years, but some days they just do not work - so I resort to a pair of 5 year old glasses that actually work better than my newer prescription.

I have a LOT of reasons for wearing contacts. One - I hate having anything between me and another person when we are talking. I feel like there's a wall or something. Two - working out with glasses is a hassle. I am a sweat-er and within five minutes of a good run or weight session, my glasses are sliding down my nose. Three - well, there's not really a three but all good arguments need three points. I guess three would be I don't really like the way I look in glasses....especially lately.

Lately I've been noticing I look a lot like my grandmother...and not the young version of her either! When I wear my glasses, the resemblance is even greater, (or maybe I can just SEE it better.) At any rate, it was the third, supposedly non-existent, reason that was on my mind this morning as I made the choice to wear one contact so that I could somewhat see both far away and up close. I'd like to say I was thinking about my workout later today, but it's not nice to lie to your blog readers.

That's when the random thought hit me....I am more concerned with how I am seen rather than what I am seeing! Oh my! Am I really that vain? Yes, I guess I am. I am spending more time thinking about how I "look" than I am "looking" at the world around me.

Vanity - thy name is contacts...and I've got some serious re-evaluating to do! (But I'm still just putting in one contact today....only this time it really is cause I'm about to go workout.)

John 4:35

³⁵ Don’t you have a saying, ‘It’s still four months until harvest’? I tell you, open your eyes and look at the fields! They are ripe for harvest.

Matthew 13: 10-17

¹⁰The disciples came up and asked, "Why do you tell stories?" ^11-15He replied, "You've been given insight into God's kingdom. You know how it works. Not everybody has this gift, this insight; it hasn't been given to them. Whenever someone has a ready heart for this, the insights and understandings flow freely. But if there is no readiness, any trace of receptivity soon disappears. That's why I tell stories: to create readiness, to nudge the people toward receptive insight. In their present state they can stare till doomsday and not see it, listen till they're blue in the face and not get it. I don't want Isaiah's forecast repeated all over again:

   Your ears are open but you don't hear a thing.
      Your eyes are awake but you don't see a thing.
   The people are blockheads!
   They stick their fingers in their ears
      so they won't have to listen;
   They screw their eyes shut
      so they won't have to look,
      so they won't have to deal with me face-to-face
      and let me heal them.
 ^16-17"But you have God-blessed eyes—eyes that see! And God-blessed ears—ears that hear! A lot of people, prophets and humble believers among them, would have given anything to see what you are seeing, to hear what you are hearing, but never had the chance.