Hello,
I got some new glasses about a week ago. My old ones broke….for good.
“Don’t get the same kind,” my wife said as I set off to get a new pair
of specs. The kind that I had were
“rimless” ones, and the reason that I was to avoid such glasses in the future
was that the lenses kept popping out, and they were very difficult to get back
in. Those of you who have shared
this type of glasses with me know that the lenses are held in by a thin
fishing-line type thread. I am
half to blame for the ease of the lenses falling out because I wasn’t exactly
gentle with them, once closing them underneath the lid of my hot tub, bending
the frames and sending both lenses a-popping. Beyond that my nightly wrestles with my dog were bending and
breaking the nose pads, and of course, popping my lenses out. “Don’t get the same kind.”
When I arrived at the same day glasses store I discovered something:
there were only two types of glasses to choose from. The kind that I had that had, no rims or partial rims, or
plastic rimmed ones where the rims are comparatively thicker and quite
visible. With my departing
instructions in my ears, I decided to venture into the plastic rim world.
When I tried the first pair on, I was a bit taken back….didn’t know if I
liked the look. It was a far
different look that I had been sporting for the past 17+ years of glasses
wearing. My previous look
diminished the fact that my eyes had lost their accuracy and I was now in need
of glasses. This look, however
screamed my need to the world, THIS GUY IS WEARING GLASSES! I was about to return to my old look,
against my marching orders, when one of the sales persons said to me, “Oh. I like those on you!” So, I took a second…and a third….and a
fourth look in the mirror, and with each look I was getting a bit more
accustomed to the new look.
“Okay,” I said, “let’s give these a try.” So with a few slightly different styles placed in front of
me, I sat down to make a final decision and get my lenses fit. There were four sales people in the
showroom, and before I made my final choice, each put in their two cents on the
frames that they thought looked best on me….and those were the frames that I
got. “I like the way those look on
you,” they all said.
I came home and walked through the door in search of my wife and her
opinion. When I found her she gave
me a bit of a bewildering look and said with the same bewilderment, “Oh…you got
new glasses.”
“Yeah,” I said, “what do you think?”
“Well, they are not like your old ones.”
“But do you like them?”
Silence….then, “Well, I’m trying to get used to them.”
In the time that I have had my new glasses and my new look, I have
received mixed reactions. Some
like them….some do not, but like them or not, one thing everyone said, that
they sure made me look different.
Smarter? Younger? Goofier? Hipper? A babe
magnet? They never said…..just
different.
Over the course of my life as a Christian, I have found myself sporting
different frames….same lenses…faith in Christ….but different frames. In my younger years when everything
looked simple and clear, my frame of Christian reference was much the
same…simple and clear, as if I didn’t need glasses at all. But as I have walked this path of
faith, my frame of reference has become much more complex…I NEED GLASSES….life
throws questions at me that make it hard to see God at work….my own
shortcomings make my vision far more near sighted than I wish it were….the
experiences of others bring things into my vision that I had never seen
before. Maybe it is appropriate
that the glasses I wear now are far more visible than the ones I used to wear.
So, if we haven’t seen each other in a while…even a few days…and you
notice that I am wearing different glasses…..know this….its still me, graced
with the love of God in Christ Jesus…just wearing new glasses in hopes to see
God’s grace with greater clarity and to see how I might apply that grace to my
life in a world where simple and clear answers are not always easy to see.
Have a great day.
God’s grace and peace, (ggap)
Pastor Jerry Nuernberger
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