Both Eyes Open

I couldn’t help but stare at my daughter. We were in the backyard, letting our new puppy run and play. My baby girl’s expression was animated with amusement as she watched the brown, miniature dachshund chase her pink princess ball. The morning was bright and sunny, but I made sure that we each wore hooded jackets to protect our faces from the crisp, cool wind.

I sat in a wicker chair, thankful that both my daughter and the puppy burned a ton of their childish energy during their play. My daughter continually kicked the pink ball and cried with delight when he went to chase it. I knew they would be tuckered out soon, and I could foresee long naps in their distant future. I felt so blessed, like God had written, cast, and directed a mini-movie just for my pleasure.

As I watched my girl, I noticed that something happened to my view. I could see her playing, but I could also see a white covering blocking my view. I finally realized that the hood of my jacket had fallen over my right eye. When I stared at her, I could see both the presence and absence of her simultaneously.

I squinted my right, and I could see my daughter clearly. Then, I squinted my left eye, and my daughter disappeared. I opened my eyes, and my vision was filled with her presence again, yet the corner of my hood still blacked half my view.

“Maybe I should just keep my right eye closed,” I said to myself.

“But I gave you two eyes,” the Holy Spirit whispered back.

Just like Jesus, we are people born of two worlds: our outer person was born of the physical world, but our inner person was born of the spiritual world. 

“There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another.” 1 Corinthians 15:40 (NIV)

When our inner person is brought to life through Christ, we will see life through both sets of eyes; and God has designed our view to incorporate both worlds. The question is, which eye will be our dominant eye?

God makes many promises in the Bible, and the Holy Spirit gives us many promises individually. However, it is hard to chase those promises when we don’t see them. Many times our spiritual eye is weak because we’ve allowed our physical eye to dominate our lives. But when we practice cultivating our spiritual eye through deepening our relationship with Christ, reading the Bible, and trusting the leading of the Holy Spirit, our spiritual eye begins to awaken with light.

The point isn’t learning how to shut out the physical view; rather, it’s learning to see through both eyes and give precedence to our spiritual view. Seeing both the presence of God’s miracles (in the spiritual realm) and the absence of God’s miracles (in the physical realm) simultaneously forces us to walk by faith. And chasing after these promises forces us to strengthen our spiritual eye and give it dominance over our lives.

The Bible says,

“The heavens belong to the LORD, but he has given the earth to all humanity.” Psalm 115:16 (NLT)

Although God is the creator and controller over the universe, He gives His children free will to create good on the earth. It’s up to us to look through both our physical and spiritual eyes, pluck out those spiritual promises and transplant them into reality on this earth.

Copyright © 2018 Alisa Hope Wagner, used with permission.