May 22, 2024 I expected it, but it still upset me. I’ve needed glasses since I was in second grade. If I take my glasses off, I can’t see clearly just a few feet from my face. A handful of months ago, I caught myself doing something I’ve picked on others for doing: I was putting my glasses on the top of my head so I could read text close to my face. Even though I was expecting it when I scheduled a visit to the optometrist, it unexpectedly upset me when the doctor sent in a prescription for – you probably guessed it – bifocals. It was one of those moments in which I was reminded that I’m aging and my body doesn’t function as well as it once did. At 43, I’m the not-so-proud owner of both a hip replacement and bifocals. When the package from the optical company arrived at my house, I not-so-happily opened the box, popped open the case it contained and tried on my new glasses. While it took me a bit to adjust to the new prescription and the line on the bottom part of the lens, it occurred to me relatively quickly that I could see better than I have in months. I could easily read small text that had been a struggle previously. While I hated the idea of the bifocals, I actually liked the bifocals. I’m pretty sure God was laughing at me, but he was also reminding me of something I too easily forget: There are lots of things in life I can’t change, and sometimes I need to accept them. It made me think of a quote I first heard when doing a Lenten program based on the book “He Leadeth Me” by Father Walter Ciszek, a Jesuit priest who went on mission to Russia and ended up first in a Soviet prison and later in a labor camp. Father Ciszek, discussing the propensity to look for God’s will in situations, said, “the secret is I don’t need to find God’s will in this moment and these circumstances, because this moment and these circumstances are God’s will for me.” I’m trying to accept “this moment and these circumstances” as God’s will even when the moments and circumstances remind me that I’m aging and even when I don’t necessarily love them. I just didn’t expect God would remind me of that with a pair of bifocals. |
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