Visual Impairments: The Importance of What We Can’t See

Read: 2 Corinthians 4:14-18

For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18)

One of the challenges that I seem to face on an ongoing basis when it comes to my life as a Christ-follower is a vision impairment: spiritual short-sightedness. I tend to become so engrossed in, or overwhelmed by, my present circumstances that I lose my perspective. As I age, I seem to be accumulating more and more “secondary conditions” related to my primary condition, Cerebral Palsy. For example, shortly after I turned 30, I was diagnosed with a swallowing disorder, and had to start eating only pureed food. (Pureed turkey at Thanksgiving – YUM!...NOT!!!) Some twelve years after that, I had my first bout of aspiration pneumonia, which was nearly fatal, and had to have feeding-tube inserted into my stomach. Although, thankfully, I have subsequently regained the ability to eat some pureed foods by mouth, odds are high that, as I age, my swallowing muscles will weaken further, resulting in an increased risk of recurrent pneumonia and eventual death, even with the feeding-tube.

More often than not, this spiritual visual impairment of mine causes me to magnify my present challenges and troubles rather than viewing them as “light and momentary”! Yet, in today’s Scripture reading, this is exactly how the Apostle Paul views the life-threatening hardships which he repeatedly faces in the course of his ministry. What enabled Paul to view such hardships in this way? Paul purposely views his present hardships from an eternal perspective, recognizing that God is using his troubles in often indiscernible ways to perfect and prepare him for the glory that awaits him in heaven.

All-knowing Heavenly Father, I confess that there are many times when I become so overwhelmed by the limitations, challenges, and troubles I face here and now that I lose sight of Your ultimate claim and watch-care over my life. During those times, God, please correct my vision so that I am able to look beyond my immediate circumstances, and recognize that the troubles I face in this life are indeed “light and momentary” compared to the Glorious eternity with You in Heaven. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.