In the month of August the nights can be hot and sticky! It can feel sometimes like the day only got darker but never cooled down! We go to bed and we wake up feeling like summer may never end. Hot August nights make us yearn for Fall! The promise of crisp mornings, followed by cool afternoons and chilly evenings…but that is a series for next month! This month it’s still Hot August Nights!

I love the Fall! I can’t wait to wear my cute, cozy sweaters! I can’t wait to sip on a pumpkin spice latte! And I crave eating everything pumpkin flavored! In contrast, I don’t like the heat of summer. And yet here I find myself in those Hot August Nights! I am afraid I am suffering from PRESBYOPIA! 

Presbyopia is the lack of ability our eye lenses have to change in focus from far away to close. Our eyes get tired! We stretch them, push them, and downright wear them out as we strain to look so far ahead and then by necessity, have to bring our focus back to right in front of us. We simply wear our focus out. It becomes foggy and cloudy at best! 

The goal of course is to have 20/20 vision! It is to be able to see clearly what is in front of us. Defined it is, “Visual acuity; clarity and sharpness of vision.”

Not perfect vision mind you, as most people mistake it for, but clarity of vision and sharpness of vision. Now who of us does not want to be clear and sharp in what we see? I know I do!

The terms I have described above are typically connected to physical vision; our eyes, pupils and lenses. However, what I am talking about is spiritual presbyopia.

And boy have I had it bad! I have spent so much time straining to focus on what might be out there or may happen or could be ahead of me that I have failed to focus with clarity and sharpness on what is right in front of me!

My first Hot August Night Sizzler is: The need for 20/20 vision spiritually!

This week God graciously reminded me of my need for this in my life!

Last week began with me frantically trying to, “Get all of my ducks in a row!”

I wanted to be sure that I was ready to pick up and go the minute our new grandson was born! The call came, they were in the hospital and the labor was going fast! 

My world came to a halt. Suddenly, all I could see was what was right in front of me! My vision had narrowed to 20/20! We were about to be grandparents again and all I cared about was the healthy birth of that baby boy! In less than 6 hours he was here! I saw with great clarity that what was most important was that I’d be there!

For the next four days my vision was sharp and perfectly clear. Everything else seemed to pale in comparison! The ducks that I thought needed to be in a row could fall out of line for four days. The problems that I thought I needed to solve suddenly seemed to take care of themselves. The schedule I thought I had to keep went along fine without me. Add the to do list which seemed endless suddenly had a period at the end of it. 

This beautiful gift from God that I was able to hold in my arms, and his sister that I played with and rocked to sleep, and his parents that love me and I love them cleared my focus to a sharp 2020 vision!

TRUTH BOMB

OUR SPIRITUAL VISION IS 20/20 WHEN WE FOCUS ON WHAT GOD HAS PUT RIGHT IN FRONT OF US!

“Your word is a lamp for my feet, a light on my path.” Psalm 119:105

On these Hot August Nights, I pray that my focus stays clear and sharp as I allow God’s words to light my path!

Speak Truth Love