Eyes

When I was young, so much younger than today (cue music), we had an enormous willow tree behind our house. My sister and I liked to pull down one of the low branches and pretend it was a horse. It was strong enough to hold us and springy enough to bounce pretty high. One day my sister was holding the branch down so I could have a turn on the “horse” when her grip slipped and the branch sprang up whacking me in the eye. Wow that hurt.

While my vision returned pretty quickly, I have had “floaters” in that eye ever since. Generally they have been pretty small and not obnoxious. But I do have one fairly large one that occasionally repositions itself just off center of my vision. It is really annoying and distracting, and takes quite awhile before I either get used to it or it floats off to a less central point.

Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye. How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye. – Matthew 7:3-5

While this “floater” is not nearly as big as a plank, it’s very hard for me to “pay no attention” to especially when I’m reading or looking at the ocean or a light colored wall. While it’s a lot less painful than I imagine having a plank in your eye would be, it is a very good reminder of my own sins, and the impossibility of removing either from my life. Only Jesus.