I was 22 years old before I figured out that I couldn’t see what other people could see. I was in the balcony in a large conference hall, waiting for the speaker to write on the overhead so I could take notes. (Yes, it was an overhead because that’s what we used 50 years ago.) I noticed my neighbors busily writing, and looked back at the blank screen. The man on the other side of me was jotting the same words, but the screen was still blank. I squinted at the speaker and noticed he was actually writing, but I still saw an empty screen.

I made an appointment to get glasses the next day.
How much had I missed in my life just because I didn’t see it?

My daughter wore contacts, but kept tearing them as she took them out of the container to put them in her eyes. Finally found an optometrist took the time to help figure out the issue.
“Do you play basketball?” he asked. “What is your shooting percentage?”
 She was embarrassed to have to quote a very low number.
“Do you use the square above the basket to aim—banking it off the top-center?”
Her frustrated response was, “I do it right, but it never works.”
“Your eyes have different prescriptions and don’t work together well. That affects your depth perception,” he smiled at her. “Try aiming at the corner of the square. You’ll soon be the team’s high scorer.”

It worked. Her eyes saw one thing and fed that to her brain.
She just had to train her brain to respond to what was real and true.
She ripped a lot fewer contacts also.

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We both needed a vision correction, but Colleen needed to take an extra step. She had to tell her brain to choose something a little different than the information her eyes were feeding to her brain.

Spiritually, we all need a vision correction. I may see something and misunderstand, because I can’t see anything beyond my vision range. My daughter reached out for something that her eyes told her were in a certain place, but she had to train her brain to react differently to what she saw. Neither one of us had to continue through life with a vision deficit.

If you are having trouble seeing anything good about life, read the Bible, accept Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior, and welcome the Holy Spirit to take residence inside. When you realize how much you are loved by God, you can adapt your mind to see things differently. By sharing the mind of Christ—and his love for the good of others—you will grow to reflect it in your mind, words and actions. You’ll gain a living hope for now and a great promise for eternity.