Dropping in on Blindness

I'm still putting in anti-inflammatory eye drops four times daily since my laser eye surgery last Friday, but today I got busy and missed a dose. You wouldn't think it would be so easy to forget since I try to do it around meal time and then once at bedtime. Especially as important as it is to keep down any inflammation in my eyes following the surgery for glaucoma.

It says in the directions to gently close your eyes for five minutes after putting in the drop. Even that has been hard. Sometimes I have purposely tried to continue doing things with my eyes closed, just to see how it would feel if I couldn't see. It's a harsh reminder of how valuable my eyesight is. It's not a welcome thought.

But then it also reminds me of how my mother lost her sight over the course of several years. She was often discouraged about her fate, and I tried to lift her spirits every time I took her to the eye doctor for another useless appointment. Hope kept her going, but it was faith that made her strong.

This topic of blindness always hits me on Tuesdays, the day I volunteer as a book narrator for Christian Record Services. Ironically, my sessions are cut short due to my breathing problems, not my eyesight. But some day, who knows? God has a plan. I'm just here to live it for Him.

Lemon Meringue Pie

One of my Mother's Day gifts was a homemade lemon meringue pie, which I announced as something I would especially like. After two tries at making the meringue, however, we were almost ready to call it quits because the egg whites just were not cooperating at all to form the stiff white peaks they were supposed to. But I remembered that there were enough eggs from the dozen I had bought, which were from cage free hens and all natural, and I was positive they would make a difference. And sure enough, they made a beautiful meringue.

Beginnings are so important. Where those eggs came from, the environment the chickens lived in, and the food they ate, made all the difference in the quality of the eggs we needed for our cooking.

And this is the reason we honor our mothers today. They gave us the needed foundation for our success as adults. It's where we got our beginnings. As God requires that we recognize His role in our beginning by keeping the Sabbath--"In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth," He also enjoins us to recognize our family beginnings by honoring our fathers and mothers.

Thank your mother...no matter what kind of meringue you turned out to be.

Tax Refund Wait

This time of year many people are waiting for their income tax refunds to arrive. I think most people are ACTIVELY waiting. In other words, they are "making a list" for how they will spend that refund money. My nephew was actively waiting for his and when it arrived he instantly knew which store to visit first. The money was already spent in his mind and it didn't take long for it to get spent in the store.

We Christians are looking forward to a place in heaven. Are we ACTIVELY waiting for it though? Can you picture yourself there, having a picnic by the river of life or entertaining friends in your own customized mansion? What academic pursuits are you looking forward to pursuing there? Being a librarian, I want to browse through the books of life. I've always loved biographies. If you're an animal lover, you will have any species you desire to study or just lavish with love. For the medically inclined, to study the wonder of how our bodies operate will still be a fascination worth your attention.

I used to think my mother spent too much time talking about heaven--that it was a sign of old age to focus on our future in eternity, when there was so much to do yet here on earth. But now I believe her inclination to think and talk so much about heaven was just an indication of growing closer to God. The longer we live, the closer we get to our Maker, and the greater the longing to actually be in His presence in heaven. I find myself these days starting to "make a list". Heaven can't come soon enough--just like our tax refunds.

A Parent Feels the Pain

My daughter experienced the most heartbreaking task a mother must endure today. She had to watch her two little daughters undergo medical procedures that were pretty painful. One needed to get some shots and the other had some dental work done. How painful for a mother to be just inches from her children and yet powerless to keep them from hurting and crying out her name.

I think you know where I'm going with this. Picture Jesus on the cross, suffering tremendously, and crying out for His Father. Imagine how much pain the Father was going through as well. Any parent knows this anguish. How much love both Jesus AND the Father must have for us to willingly sacrifice everything for our salvation at Calvary.

But another thought is how close God was at that time. Just as my daughter was hovering over her little ones doing all she could to comfort them, God comes close to us when we are going through trials. Think of His loving, comforting presence the next time you have any kind of painful experience. He feels it with us, as any good parent would.