I Can Only Imagine

I Can Only Imagine
Peggy Mack
August 15, 2013

One of the new, more humorous challenges of reaching the "Midriff Ages", "the Golden Years", "The Age of the Rust Bucket Brigade" is having to search for a pair of glasses.

Those of you who dance around in this age group can shout an Amen to those moments when your search for your glasses seems to go on forever until you locate them on the top of your head. What seems so frustrating is that just when we reach the age of needing our glasses for everything, the print on those little over the counter medications are all in teeny-tiny print unsuitable for even normal vision.  So we begin our day with a cup of coffee and a search for our glasses. Once we have both, the day can officially begin. 

You will also agree that there are these moments that seem to jump out at us through each day. For example, we might be brushing our teeth and the phone rings.  So, for me, I quickly rinse my mouth and scoot to locate my cell phone, which is another challenge for seniors having grown up in the days when the phone was actually attached to the wall which eliminated the need to locate it before answering it. Ah, but I digress. Now, I have left the task of brushing my teeth and am in a mad dash to answer my phone, but I want to see who is calling first. Where are my glasses? Ahrrrgggh! I decide to let the phone ring, go to messages and when I locate my glasses, I will find out who just called me.

The day goes much the same way, laying my glasses down somewhere so they will not fall in the washer when I am loading it or are putting them on my dresser so I can take a shower. The day is an endless search for answers to the question, "Where are those 'dadburn' glasses? Oh! If only the Lasik surgery to perfect my vision had worked, I could do whatever I wanted without this constant sense of not seeing the world as clearly as I need to see it!

Compare our lives of walking around in this dim haze with what used to be clear vision to living a day without sensing God is with us all the time. Many of us pray when we are frightened and in turmoil, but have no thought to beginning our day with morning devotional time with God. Guilty! I have a sixty-three year history of no morning devotions and, only now, have begun my commitment to studying, reading, learning and praying each morning. It is my private time with God to cleanse my mind of the clutter and to speak to God.

Today my eyes opened to a new challenge which equates only beginning our day with God in prayer as finding my glasses in the morning and then losing them the rest of the day and walking in a haze of blurred vision. Why would we not transition our minds to understanding that God wants us to feel His presence throughout our entire day and to call on Him for love, support, encouragement, guidance...whatever would strengthen us and make us see how to face our day.

I never liked the idea that somehow I was incapable of making it through life on my own and using my intelligence, training and skills to be a successful wife, mother and teacher. I was raised to be strong and to face the world and its challenges. So the suggestion that I might somehow need to lean on Jesus never made sense to me until now.

Now I realize that going through life, tackling whatever was my challenge in the moment could have been done even BETTER! The way I worked with coworkers to accomplish goals together could have been done even BETTER! Yes, I did well with my life without Christ as my focus, but I will never know how much more amazing it could have been with Him as my center of my daily activities.

So now, I go through life in a blurry haze of vision searching for my glasses knowing my day will have frustration when I cannot read. But NOW, I truly see. We are God's creation. He created us to make our own decisions, to be strong and to have our own free will. 

Beyond that, He asks us to keep Him in our minds and hearts throughout the day. As we go throughout our day we can be better, do better, see more clearly by whispering a prayer and calling God to guide us, asking the Holy Spirit to enlighten us and petitioning Jesus to walk through our day beside us.

Can you imagine? You are already amazing, but pause for a moment and imagine you living in this world and seeing it with the understanding that God is always with you and is there for you to be BETTER!

from "Amazing Grace", " I was blind, but now I see!"

If you want to feel God speaking, go find Can You Imagine? by Wynonna Judd.....oh man! Amazing!

Dear Heavenly Father,
How much more wonderful would this world be if we walked with Jesus each day, if we invoked the enlightenment of the Holy Spirit and served in God's grace! Help us each day to draw closer to you, to live a better life in thee.
In Jesus' Name,
Amen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxt5TsmEZaY