Some simply call it cataract surgery. I call it a minor miracle. The sky gets bluer, the grass turns greener. Cloudy vision is made clear again with a simple outpatient surgery.

The patient? My husband Don. Last summer during his eye check-up, the doctor discovered a cataract. Don knew his vision hadn’t been as good but certainly never expected to hear that diagnosis. As the doc told me yesterday after the surgery, Don is, in fact, too young for cataracts, but sometimes for unknown reasons, younger people develop them. Don falls into the unknown reasons category. Why am I not surprised by that? :)

By the way, did you pick up on the fact that he has waited a year to get the problem fixed? Along with getting very nervous at the thought of surgery, Don also didn’t want to take time away from classes to have it done. After all, he didn’t want his students missing out on any of his stimulating lectures or outlandish stories :)

Since the timing never seemed to work out during his shorter breaks throughout the year, Don just plugged along, living with vision that was not all that it could be. Sometimes in the evenings, he’d finally set the newspaper aside, tired of trying to focus on the crossword and sudoku puzzles he loves so much. Driving at night with him became an adventure I wanted to avoid. And why was he driving? He thinks he has to do all the driving when we’re together, but that’s another post altogether :)

I’m guessing Don will soon be wondering why he didn’t get the problem corrected sooner. Who wouldn’t want the best vision possible?

I’m also wondering if some of us are struggling along with limited vision of another sort. Have we allowed hurt, anger, or bitterness to cloud some of our current perceptions? Other obstacles can be at fault as well — pride, envy, low self-esteem, buying into the wisdom of the world… The list goes on. All of these things keep us living with a vision that’s not all God wants it to be.

Why don’t we ask the Great Physician to remove the cataracts of our minds and souls? Let’s ask Him to open our eyes and use His Word to bring the healing we need today. After all, don’t we want the best vision possible?

“For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart.” Hebrews 4:12

Flickr photo by Nicholas_T; Creative Commons License