When pride pokes you in the eye!

2 years ago, I got a 'check up' with a new Optometrist as a favour for a friend who was investing in the Optometry business.

Let's call this Optometrist "Jane" (not her real name).



Jane was a bit too pushy for my liking, particularly when it came to rules about throwing my contacts out strictly after 30 days wear. She even made me sign a contract to say I'd do it!

I objected to being treated like a child! I know when my contact lenses need changing - thank you very much!

So I never went back. I figured I knew better. I started going to a more local optometrist.

Rcently, I've been having some troubles with my left eye getting a little bit irritated.. just a little.

Then this morning - I woke up with a roaring red eye. It is weeping, it is painful, it feels like sand in my eye every time I blink. Even now, I feel like I have cotton wool packed into my eye.

Figuring I better get it checked out - I took myself to visit my new latest local optometrist office.

I turn up for my appointment and get told the unsurprising. I have been wearing my contact lenses for too long. The extra wear has caused proteins to build up on the lens surface. This has starved my eye of Oxygen. I have blood vessels that have surfaced. I am actually very close to damaging my sight.

I am banned from wearing my contacts for a month!

As if that wasn't pride-destroying enough. My latest local optometrist has a new employee. It was this new employee that saw me and delivered the bad news. This new employee? Jane!!

Proverbs 16:18 "Pride precedes a disaster, and an arrogant attitude precedes a fall."

Today Matters

Do you ever, like me, get up in the morning and think this is just another day.. another day to get ready for work, another day to iron clothes, catch the train, meet with people and talk about issues. It's just another day in the daily grind where I am going through the motions of doing what needs to be done, or what I feel like doing.

One seemingly meaningless day turns into another.. and days turn into weeks, months and even years of sometimes the same boring monotony.

But are our days really meaningless?

Each day we make a myriad of choices, we undertake a range of actions and interact with countless people. These choices/actions/interactions may seem insignificant, but the effects may be much more significant.

In the bible, Paul shares this wisdom to his friend, Timothy.

1 Tim 5:24 Remember, the sins of some people are obvious, leading them to certain judgment. But there are others whose sins will not be revealed until later. 25 In the same way, the good deeds of some people are obvious. And the good deeds done in secret will someday come to light.

This verse has such wisdom. What people do today will show up - now or later – but it will show up. The choices, actions and interactions that people have in their life today will have consequences tomorrow - whether they are good or bad.

If you sow a financial seed into the kingdom – it will show up sooner or later. If you invest in the lives of your kids - it will show up sooner or later. As my good friend Andrew Staggs says- if you invest some money, it will show up as compounding interest tomorrow.

However, if you have an area of sin that you haven't deal with in your life – deal with it today, or it will show up later. If you make poor choices in what you eat - it will show up sooner or later. If you make poor choices in how much you spend, it will show up sooner or later. If you make poor choices in how little time you spend with God - it will show up sooner or later.

In fact, everything that is done today will have a return – sooner or later, whether good or bad.

As John Maxwell would say, today matters. Today is another day that I get to do something that shows up later - in a good way!

Today I get to eat healthy so it shows up as a reduced dress size later;
Today I get to take an interest in or invest in my kids' life so it shows up in their lives later;
Today I get to meet with my creator, so I can see the fruits of an overcoming life show up sooner and later;
Today I get to give my best at work, so i can get a payrise or promotion later;
Today I get to save some of my salary so it shows up as financial freedom later;
Today I get to give to those in need so that God repays me this debt later;
Today I get to thank God for all that I have so that it creates a joyful disposition in me sooner or later;

On the flipside, today I can ignore my conscience and do an action that will show up later and create harm in my life. Today I can spend impulsively money that I haven't yet earned. Today I can eat 3 packets of tim tams! Today I can encourage an inappropriate relationship. Today I can slack off on the job. Today I can neglect to pray or read the word - the effects of which will show up sooner or later.

What do I want to see show up in my life tomorrow, or next month? or next year? Then I must think about what I do today.

Today matters.

Surrender Now!

I am a big Seinfeld fan.. huge fan. One of my favourite episodes is where George Costanza’s father has been advised to say "serenity now" aloud every time his blood pressure is in danger of going up, but he yells it instead. The episode is littered with this outbursts of “SERENITY NOW!” It’s supposed to be his pressure relief valve.

Well Frank Costanza isn’t the only one who has stresses and tensions in his life. Strangely enough, I found I have them too. People not responding the way I thought they should, things not going the way I think they should go, and most of all, me not behaving, achieving, persisting, resisting, or overcoming as I should. I never seem to have my own ever-changing set of expectations satisfied – and it creates a life of stress.

It seems the harder I try, the worse I become, and the more disappointed I get in myself and others.

In the book, “The me I want to be”, John Ortberg writes about how we can be God’s best version of ourselves – the thing I seem to be so regularly unable to do.

Ortberg dedicates a section on our efforts to ‘try harder’ and the futility of it all.

He says, “The harder you try to work to control things, the more you lose control. The harder you try to hit a fast serve in tennis, the more your muscles tense up. The harder you try to impress someone on a date or while making a sale, the more you force the conversation and come across as pushy”. He adds, “I need a greater power than simply ‘try harder’ can provide. Imagine someone advising you to try harder to be graceful. Try harder not to worry. Try harder to be joyful. There are limits on what trying harder can accomplish”

He proposes this alternative. “Try softer… trying softer means focusing more on God’s goodness than our efforts. It means being more relaxed and less self-conscious. Less pressured… When I try softer, I stay patient when things don’t turn out the way I expected”

But most importantly, when I try softer, it means I surrender all the failures, frustrations and expectations to God. It means asking God for help.

So I’m taking a leaf out of Frank Costanza’s therapist’s book. For the past 2 weeks, every time something, someone or I doesn’t/ don’t’ go/do/react/behave/respond the way I think it/they/I should (ie everytime my stress level is elevated), I put my hands in the air, and I say “Surrender Now”. It is my cue to let it go and let God take over me or the situation.

It’s not about giving up, but it is about letting go and letting God do His work in me or the situation (and it’s usually both!)