Our eyes define us. Our eyes make us the person that we are, reveal the character that is within us, and guide us through some of our deepest valleys in life.
When I was a little girl my mom would say many things that I still remember to this day. One thing I remember vividly is her reminding me to "protect my eyes." It has always made sense to me through the years, but just in the last few years have I really understood how important it is.
Slowly God is revealing to me what it truly means to protect my eyes. He is showing me that our eyes are one of the most important parts of our body. Whether you are dealing with overcoming the past, limping through the present, or already worrying about the future...the role of our "eyes" in each situation is critical.
The Past. There are many things that my eyes have seen in my past that I wish I had not seen. Some voluntary, some not. Either way eyes don't forget, I can promise you that. When I was about 10 years old me and my sister were swimming in a river. Within minutes we were pulled into a current, at a fast speed, and we could no longer touch the bottom. I don't remember every detail, but I remember my little sister hanging onto me for her flotation device. I remember feeling like I couldn't breathe, trying so hard to stay above water, and screaming. If I stop and think about that moment I can see her face. She was so scared and she was looking to me to save her...and I wasn't big enough. The fear on her face will always be remembered because my eyes will not forget.
There have been several times, as a kid, when I was told to NOT go see a certain movie because it was scary. You know how it is, your human nature wants to do exactly what you are told you can't do. Needless to say I saw movies that I should not have seen. There was always a consequence though. The consequence was called nightmares. Eyes do not forget what they see, even when you are just "peeking" through the cracks of your semi-opened hand. A one second view lasts a long time.
I think we underestimate our eyes. I think we "think" we can handle a lot more than we can. We don't realize that our eyes are weak and they are not as forgiving as we sometimes need them to be. Once we see something it is near impossible to see that same thing in a different way. Many times our eyes are the reason that we cannot forgive as quickly as God would have us forgive. Our heart wants to forgive but we can't get past what our eyes have literally seen.
The Present. Believe it or not, our eyes control us. Each day when we get up we have a choice about where we will fixate our eyes. We get to decide what our eyes will be on, and how our eyes will guide us. Although it seems impossible some days, it's crucial that we keep our eyes on truth. God's truth. The reason I say it seems impossible is because our eyes get distracted. I truly believe that many of us have every intention of keeping our eyes on God, but our eyes are very easily lured to worldly things and before we know it we are caught up on a destructive road. I believe the only way to keep your eyes from becoming distracted is to be in constant prayer throughout your day. No human has the strength to keep their eyes fixed on God, without distraction, without the power of God behind them. Just trust me on this.
One of my favorite restraints is Souper Salad. Years ago it was a "healthy" place to eat. They had soup and they had salad. That was about it. Just in the last few years they have added some fun, but not so healthy things to the buffet. Pizza, ice cream, tacos, and the list goes on and on. Yes, the soup and salad are still there but they have made it very difficult to stay on a healthy track since they have added so many things for your eyes to look at. I seriously have to concentrate JUST ON THE SALAD BAR or else you will find me near the pizza, with sauce on my face. Even though I know the pizza is not as good for my body, it still looks so unbelievably good. If I let my eyes drift in that direction, even for ONE SECOND, then I am done. My eyes will have gotten the best of me, and the pizza will now be sharing space in my jeans. Our eyes control us so much more than we think. Souper Salad is not much different than life. We MUST focus our eyes on what we KNOW is good for us and keep our eyes there.
I used to work with many male teachers. Let's just say I have heard this line, from married men, many times in my past....
"It's ok to look, just as long as you don't do anything about it."
I never understood that sentence. A persons eyes control so much. I always wanted to say, and sometimes did, "If you let yourself look, and keep looking, then that is what you are filling your mind with." I wanted to tell them that just by looking, or looking twice that they already were "doing something." I still wonder who invented that sentence, because it is far from truth. Our eyes control more than we give them credit for.
The Future. One of my friends is going through a rough time and she continues to say something that has stuck with me. She says...
"Eyes on Jesus." When things get rough she just reminds herself to get her eyes back on Jesus and let Him worry about the problem. It's simple, but so beneficial.
When it comes to our future our eyes should be on Heaven. Heaven is the ultimate goal. Sometimes our lives are lived with other things as our "goals" and shame on us for that, because Heaven is the goal. Heaven should be where our eyes look to for the future. If our eyes are looking towards Heaven, then our daily decisions will line up where they should be. Our words to other people will be kind, our intentions will be genuine, and our hearts will desire to remain pure.....IF our eyes are looking towards Heaven. Too often our eyes are looking towards worldly goals and I think that God will eventually step in the middle of that and re-focus our eyes. Sometimes He has to teach us the hard way, but I am grateful for that because sometimes my eyes are selfish. When they are selfish I need to be reminded of His goal, not my selfish goals.
When our eyes look towards Heaven we are not disappointed. But when our eyes look to people, even people we truly love, we are disappointed. Every single time.
Our eyes play a big role in our life. Our eyes define us. Our eyes make us the person that we are, reveal the character that is within us, and guide us through some of our deepest valleys in life. Protect your eyes, they are more priceless than you think.
My eyes are brown. Brylee's eyes are blue. When she was born she was born with several qualities that looked just like mine. Some of her baby pictures look almost identical to mine, because of those features. But our eyes are different. It wasn't until I saw this picture that I realized how different our eyes are, and what a difference they do make. Eyes matter. They matter physically, spiritually, mentally and emotionally.
I found this baby picture of me. You can see that I was a brown-eyed little girl, no doubt. You can see my little nose, same as Brylee's, but those eyes sure do stand out in this picture.





























