Four Eyes are Better than None

When I first laid eyes on Graham's new glasses, and felt the thickness of their lens, I wondered if his quarter-sized eyes would still glisten like an emerald forest, but more importantly, I feared that his eyes might catch on fire when he looked at the sun.

I was reminded of the first time I met Lacy. She lived down the street, and I knew her both as the girl whose fluffy poodle got swallowed by a German Shepherd, and the girl whose glasses were so thick, her eyes looked like tiny marbles swirling in a pool of water. Everyone knew that when she turned her glasses around she could gaze into the past, and that she was the only girl on the block who could wish upon a star, and see something waving back.

I was surprised to find that glasses have come a long way, and that even the strongest prescription can make a fashion statement. Graham walked into the eyeglass store looking like an average boy, and walked out looking like a child-star who just grabbed the world by the cheeks and said, “Look at me, I’m created in God’s image, and He is adorable!”

On the way home, Graham noticed that trees looked taller, houses looked wider, and of course he noticed that my face looked bigger too. It must be disturbing to see your mother’s face expand before your very eyes, while her airbrushed appearance changes from Grace Kelly on her best day to Danny Bonaduce midway through puberty.

He sat in silence for awhile, looking out of the window, breathing in the beauty of the new world blooming before him.

I felt his excitement, thankful for the opportunity Graham had to observe the world around him. Looking down at the little man in the shiny new glasses, I understood that we’re all given attributes that not only make us different, but that also continually shape who we are. God didn’t make a mistake when he created Graham’s quarter-sized green eyes, but rather each cell of this little being was carefully crafted so that one day, this four-eyed man would glorify God.

In the Psalms, David illustrated the formation of a child within its mother’s womb, telling how God wonderfully crafted each part of our being:

"Oh yes, you shaped me first inside, then out; you formed me in my mother’s womb...bit-by-bit, how I was sculpted from nothing into something. Like an open book, you watched me grow from conception to birth; all the stages of my life were spread out before you, the days of my life all prepared before I’d even lived one day." Psalm 139:13-16, The Message


The formation doesn’t stop at birth, in fact, throughout life, the Master’s hands curiously continue to shape us.

Life is a recipe. We are given several ingredients to put into our baking pans of time, and those are the things that we sift through, separate, measure, and yes--sometimes those things are whipped and beaten by the world around us. As bad as one thing may seem in this little life growing before me, I see a delicacy that the Master Chef is creating.

I always thought my occupation as a stove would be done after the fourth bun popped out. I hadn’t understood that I would always be an oven as long as my children are rising under my care.

The way I see it, is that I’ll keep the fire burning for as long as I possibly can, and if my pilot light ever goes out, I’ll just hold Graham’s glasses up to the window to ignite that fire again!



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