X-ray Vision? Well, Maybe not...

If you are as old as I am, somewhere between "older than dirt" and "just sprouted," you might remember those ads in the back of comic books that told us all about the AMAZING things we could buy. For $2, you could buy a family of "sea monkeys." For just a little bit more, you could buy X-ray glasses and have X-ray Vision! You could see through things and amaze your friends! Of course, none of those products were "for real" and many children learned their first lesson in life about "if it's too good to be true," but...just for a moment...the idea of owning the X-ray glasses was very exciting!

Now that I'm "grown up," I look back on the idea of X-ray glasses. When I think about it, they wouldn't be very practical unless you were a doctor. I mean, why would anyone want to see the inside of someone unless they were a doctor?

What I really need, though, is a pair of "God Glasses." Something that would help me to see things the way He sees them.

Do you ever get so busy in life that you just keep going and barely slow down to look around you? You have a checklist of things that you have to get done; a project at work, kids to baseball practice, laundry to be done, groceries to be bought, and on and on. Anything that breaks your stride feels like a distraction and can cause frustration. Have you ever been in a line in the grocery store and every line but the one you're in seems to be moving? Or what about when you are stuck in a traffic jam? You know you have to be someplace at a specific time and when it looks like you're going to be late, it can be stressful.

Let me ask you a question. When you are in any of those situations, do you ever look at anyone else around you? I mean really look at them? Probably not. When we are so focused on whatever our "plan" is at the moment, we really aren't aware of others around us.

This is where I need "God Glasses." If I stopped long enough from focusing on my "to do" list and saw things from His perspective, I might see things differently.

There might be a young mother, with a baby in the front of her cart, at the front of my checkout line who is carefully watching the total as her items are checked out because she knows she only has a specific, small amount of money to pay for her groceries. At that moment, when she sees the total and has to ask that some of the items be put back, she must decide which of the items that she really needs, will have to be left behind. She is ashamed that she went "over" and is causing the line to back up. She is dealing with a lot of emotions at the time.  If I was looking at the situation through "God Glasses," I could do something to help. Perhaps, if I'm next in line, I could quietly ask the cashier to add those items to what I was paying for, and have them bagged for the young mother.

What if I am in the traffic jam and no cars seem to be moving? What if it might be caused by an accident up ahead? If I was using my "God Glasses," I could look around at the people also stuck in traffic. I could pray for each of us to relax and be filled with peace as we wait, and I could pray for the people that might be involved in the accident up ahead.

The thing is, people all around us are going through many hard things, heartbreaking things. But we can't see it because everyone "puts on a good face" when we are out and about. If we could see people as God sees them, we would be sensitive to someone who might need a hug or an encouraging word. We might be able to help someone who might need a little extra financial help, like a bag of groceries. We could reach out to that person who God puts on our heart to ask them if they are ok and then stay with them long enough to know that their "I'm fine" really means, "ask me, again, please. I'm really not."

I really don't need "X-Ray Glasses," what I really need are "God Glasses."

Brandon Heath sings a song that is all about "God Glasses." It's called "Give Me Your Eyes." If you'd like to hear it, I've included a link to his YouTube version, here. It helps me to see things differently, to really try to be sensitive to what others are going through.

I have a long way to go, but I really need your "glasses," God, along the way.

Give me eyes to see and ears to hear.