Eyes To See My Own Heart

This year I have done one of those "check off the list" things. As an older person, there are just things that come along typically with age and need to be taken care of. I found my eyesight failing, especially at night, which was a sign that I needed cataract surgery. My doctor agreed. Many, including my husband, told me that color would appear brighter, and I would see much better after the cloudy lens was removed. They were right about the color popping and better vision far off, but I had an unintended result that has changed since the surgery. Before the surgery, I only rarely needed readers to help me see the print on a page, but I can’t see without them post-surgery. Therefore I have to have glasses with me everywhere I go. Can you relate? I can see a car in the distance quite well, but it is impossible to read a label in the store without glasses. I find this to be a truth in life and with my relationships with people. I seem to see the faults in others looking at them from afar but fail to see my own faults, which are upfront and personal. My far-sighted view puts me in danger of judging others. To put it biblically, I might try to remove a speck from my friend’s eye while all along, I have a log in my own eye, as written in Matthew and spoken by Jesus. I need God’s readers to see correctly. “And why worry about a speck in your friend’s eye when you have a log in your own? How can you think of saying to your friend, ‘Let me help you get rid of that speck in your eye,’ when you can’t see past the log in your own eye? Hypocrite! First, get rid of the log in your own eye; then you will see well enough to deal with the speck in your friend’s eye. Matthew 7:3‭-‬5 NLT So, my prayer today is to have eyes to see what is in my own heart before I attempt to see what is troubling my brother or sister. Help me, Lord, to rid my heart of anything that would hinder my testimony. Holy Spirit, grant me perfect vision as I look at my own life, and may I stop squinting to critique others. No readers needed!