New Focus
“I can’t see the menu board.” As I uttered these words to my husband at our local barbecue joint, I realized that I was going to have to make an appointment with the optometrist very soon. Clearly my contact prescription needed updating. If I was having trouble reading a sign a mere five feet away, what in the world was I missing while I was driving?
Not too long after, having made said appointment, I was sitting in the exam chair. I’ve been wearing contact lenses since I was about 14 years old. That’s a long time. Never you mind how many years, just a lot. At around 40ish, I noticed I was beginning to squint to read fine print. Oh, that’s normal, I was told. So, over the counter readers became a part of my life. Odd thing, though, in my late 50’s I noticed if I took my contacts out, my close vision was perfect. Eyes are strange. One of my daughters-in-law worked for an optometrist and explained the process of the eye changes and what was happening to cause that. (Sorry, Trish, I heard you but only remember something about the lens changing shape.)
So, as I sat in the chair, ready to take the vision test, (reminding myself I wasn’t trying to get a good grade, just the right one) I’m waiting to hear how terribly bad my vision had become. I was surprised to hear that the blurriness of my distant sight was because my current prescription had become too strong. My eyes are in the process of improving with age, not getting worse. As the doctor gave me my new prescription, I mentioned that I probably would need to get different strength reading glasses.
“Have you tried mono-vision?” He looked up from his computer. I looked at him, confused.
“Like bifocals? Yeah. I hated them. Made me dizzy.” He shook his head.
“Have you ever considered just wearing one lens?” I’d never heard of such a thing, and thought it sounded way too out there.
“I actually don’t mind the readers.” He nodded and gave me my new prescription and some trials to use. As I left and went to get my new lenses I was amazed at the clarity of my vision. I was reminded of the first time I put glasses on at the age of twelve and saw the crispness of the world around me for the first time. The definition of leaves on trees, and that stars in the sky were pin pricks and not fuzzy lights.
A few nights later, as I sat watching television, my left eye began bothering me. I had gotten something in it, and it wouldn’t stop watering, and it felt like I had something stuck under my contact. Being my lazy self, I took the contact out while I was sitting there and placed it on a tissue next to me. I continued to sit, nursing my watery eye. Soon, I noticed something. I could still see clearly. Curious, I picked up my phone from the table next to me. I opened up an app and saw that I could read everything on it perfectly. I looked back up at the television, and focused right back on it. What was this perfect vision I was experiencing?
I did some research and discovered that mono-vision is not a new concept. The eyes work together as a team, along with the brain. When my vision needs to focus distantly, the stronger eye, so to speak, is used. But when the job calls for close up vision, the eye that can see better up close jumps in and does the job. What a beautiful thing. I don’t have to make a conscious decision, it just automatically makes the adjustment.
I was having a conversation with a woman who was talking about focus. She made the observation that when we are expecting a baby we notice pregnant women everywhere. If we purchase a new car, we see those cars on the road, where before we may not have taken note of them. Our focus changes based on what we are looking for. She said that one day she decided to look for people smiling. She saw smiles everywhere, where previously she had seemed to only encounter crabby, moody people.
Do we focus on the positive things in the world around us or the negative? There seems to be so much more dismal, negative circumstances surrounding us. What if we put our hearts and our minds together to purposefully seek out the uplifting and positive. By removing what is keeping us from focusing clearly on the things God has put right in front of us, can we change what we see?
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