Last week at my annual eye exam, I was seated at a series of different machines over the course of the appointment. As I got my head into position at one such machine, the eye doctor's assistant explained that during the test all I had to do was to "focus on the cross". Of course, that phrase immediately screamed "this week's blog post", so I paid close attention to the mechanics of that particular exam.
As she changed settings on the machine, I followed her directions by focusing my eyes on a small cross glowing with a green light on the screen. As I maintained that focus, I could see a series of red lines moving in chaotic, agitated patterns in my peripheral vision. The screens changed from time to time and the cross moved to various positions. Sometimes all the lights went off at once. When that happened, there was always an after-image of the cross bathed in royal purple light, but no sign of the former red lines.
Since I was already primed to hear the spiritual lesson in this ordinary part of my yearly exam, understanding came quickly. No matter how frightening and angry the chaos in our lives may look at any time, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. He is the constant in an ever-shifting world that can bring confusion. Even though He is constant, we may need to shift our focus to see Him working in different ways in our lives. Though His character never changes, sometimes His methods can be unpredictable to us, so we need to adjust our concentration to make sure we are tuned in to Him and not just to a solution for the current problem we are facing. When all is said and done in this life, there will be no remembrance of the problems and the turmoil and the fear and the pain. We will see only Jesus - in his royal glory.
Where's your focus today?
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