The Gift of New Eyesight - by Pastor Shanda Harris in Bend, OR

In the first chapter of Genesis there are many details that can catch our attention about  the creation account.  However, one of the most repeated phrases is the one noted above.  When God repeats something in His word, He is trying to get our attention about something.  Seven times in this first chapter God is looking at what He created and proclaiming it is GOOD!  His observation is focused on what is a blessing, on what is lovely, on what is beneficial in what has happened.

We can learn a lot from this little phrase and an observation of God’s focus.  Instead of focusing on what is going wrong, we can focus on what has gone right.  Instead of focusing on what still needs to be changed, we can focus on what has changed.  Instead of focusing on what we do not see, we can focus on the blessing of what we can see.  An eyesight change can help us with a heart change.  From ungrateful to thankful.  


​There is blessing here in Bend, OR and goodness abounding all around us!! Do we see it?  Do we notice it?  Do we take time to be thankful for it?  Is that what our minds are meditating on?  Are we using and maximizing our resources based on the goodness we see rather than having those resources sucked away in a slew of despondency?  Are we investing in the goodness of God around us?

Lord, change our eyesight.  Give us rose-colored glasses...not so that we ignore the problems, but so that we see you at work in the midst of the problems.  Let us see your good and glorious creative masterpiece everywhere we gaze.  Let us fix our eyes on your beauty and even the beauty of the creative (but often messy) process.  As you change our eyesight, change our hearts.  Let us be people of continual gratitude with hearts soft and pliable...

Thank you for new eyesight today Lord!!

Genesis 1:4, 10, 12, 18, 21, 25, 31  “He SAW that it was (very) GOOD!!”

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