On not seeing clearly...

Over the past six months I have delayed needed cataract surgery and the result has been reflected in my ability to read and write coherently.  A month ago I finally had my cataract removed and today the optometrist told me I no longer need glasses.  Needless to say, I am euphoric about this great news.  No longer will I have to spend hours trying to remember where I left them nor will I have to take them off and put them on again depending on my work environment.

What a  blessing it is to see clearly.  The fuzziness caused by a well-developed cataract had caused my vision to be blurred, made computer work agonizingly slow and turned the joy of reading into a burdensome task.  Even as I sit at my computer now I am thanking God for His divine healing.

Much of life can be spent living in a  fog.  Often, we know what we need to do to find focus and clarity, but we put it off and try to manage, operating at less than peak efficiency.  For me, the issue was economics and the allurement of my 65th birthday and the benefits of medicare meant I could have the surgery done for nothing.  I didn't want to pay the cost of the surgery and so I opted to live the last six months in a quagmire of frustration and inefficiency.  When I look back--and I can see it clearly now--I wish I had "bitten the bullet" and done the surgery, even at my own expense.  It would have been worth it to skip the fog and darkness.

What do you know to do that you are not doing, and what are you procrastinating  because you're simply not willing to pay what it costs?  You may find all kinds of self-justification in not moving forward now--"It will be easier later", or, "I can make this work for now even though it's not my best work".  In the end, the cost of not doing it now may be greater.

There are promises in God's Word about living in the moment. "God mercies are new every morning" , Give us our daily bread, and "Today is the day of salvation..."  are examples of God's available resources now.

You can choose to live in a fog, not seeing clearly, procrastinating what needs to be done.

Or, you can do the hard costly work now and enjoy the immediate benefits of God's promised provision...and a clear vision for what He can do now to bring clarity and focus to your life.

Planning...or not?

"The plans of man may fail but the purposes of God prevail"--that's "plastered" on the front of our church wall.  It was my idea to put those words there when I was pastoring to guide us in our ministry.

You would think I'd remember those words.

I guess I'd forgotten...but I have been reminded of them big time in the last few weeks.

I am a planner.  I am a detail guy.  I like to make lists and construct timelines.  I like to be in control.  There. I said it.

Nothing about retirement and transition has worked out the way I planned.  That is not to say, it hasn't gone well.  It is only to say my script needs to be trashed.

The details of what has happened are not important here.  But every financial plan, every housing plan, every work-related plan I have devised has been seriously revised.  Above all else, the whole timing sequence I imagined has been abandoned.  Even now, we are certain only of one thing.  We are uncertain.

Still, we are confident and, at least today, smiling.  God is accomplishing His purpose for us.  I alluded to this  potential reality in a conversation months ago with my wife when I said, having rehearsed my plans--"God may surprise us and do the whole thing differently."

He has.  He is.

We are surprised...but we are not disappointed.

God is faithful.