Blurred Vision

“So let’s keep focused on that goal, those of us who want everything God has for us. If any of you have something else in mind, something less than total commitment, God will clear your blurred vision – you’ll see it yet! Now that we’re on the right track, let’s stay on it.” Philippiams 3:15-16 MSG

Through this pandemic, I’ve been writing about the experiences of social distancing, remote learning, and the “new normal” with the hope of encouraging others. But it’s difficult to stay encouraged when you don’t see an end in sight. When you hear of extended “stay at home” orders, extended remote learning, and extended overtime for essential employees; it begs the question – when will this all end? And, that is where I was last week. For almost a month and a half, I was good. Enduring. Focused. Staying in faith. Pressing toward the mark. But last week was rough.

My husband is an essential employee. He’s been working regular and overtime hours through this whole season which, in turn, has meant long hours and increased exhaustion when he’s home. Not to mention the reports of confirmed coronavirus cases at his work sites. Very stressful. My kids have had limited access to outdoors due to the weather and the overall fact that we don’t have many destination choices. They get up, do their school work, and it’s free time inside. Though, I try to get creative with them and keep up with our home affairs, all of this can make for a strenuous home environment.

So, last weekend the frustration of this season hit my home and my marriage. And, I was “over it”. My focus was blurred. I had no desire to hear any uplifting messages, return any encouraging text messages, read any Bible verses. You ever have those moments where you just ask yourself, what are you doing all this for? Why am I making so much effort when nothing seems to change? Real talk, I was tired of “walking the faith” because my vision was blurred and I couldn’t see where I was going.

And, we’ve all had those moments. It’s not the out-of-focus moments that are bad, it’s staying there that hurts us. No one should ever feel bad for getting off track and losing sight of the goal momentarily; it’s normal. If we stayed on track perfectly, we wouldn’t need to rely on a perfect God and His Spirit to readjust our sight. And, the last sentence of the scripture above wouldn’t start with the word “now” which means, at some point, we were off track. God knew we would need help getting refocused, this is why we have a Helper! This current pandemic is hard on EVERYONE, you and I are not exempt my friend! But it’s okay because when we get blurred vision, we can set our focus on God and His Holy Spirit will guide us back on track!