“For now we see in a glass, darkly . . .” –I Corinthians 13:12, KJV.
I’ve had these bifocals for several years now, but have had nothing but trouble with them. My distance vision is still excellent, and I only need them to read, so my temptation at first was to merely carry them around with me. I lost the first pair that way. Then, I got them scratched up by sticking them in my pocket. That’s how I supply myself with spare pairs. But I absolutely cannot stand smudges and scratches on my lenses, that are always in front of me, blurring my view of things.
I don’t like cracked windshields, either, but I can live with them. I can look around them and focus beyond the cracks. I see my life as being like a cracked windshield. Various life events, plus bad choices I’ve made and sins I’ve committed have put cracks on it. I try not to focus on these cracks. I want to focus on the road ahead of me and the scenery just in front of me. I refuse to let the cracks mar my perception of life. Windshield cracks are an ever-present annoyance, but I can live with them, because I can stop and get out from behind them and enjoy the view in front of me.
It’s good to do that in life. Occasionally, you need to stop and pray and meditate in order to get away from your absorption with self. Then you can more clearly see the road ahead, or the beauty that life holds just in front of you. You need to look at your blessings and pay attention to the good things in life—Philippians 4:8.
Paul had cracks in his windshield—persecution, sufferings and beatings for the cause of Christ. He details them in 2 Corinthians 11. One of his windshield cracks was his own sin. He acknowledged it—“Jesus Christ came to save sinners—of whom I am chief,” –I Timothy 1:15 KJV. But he didn’t make it his focus. Instead, he focused ahead on his goal of attaining the glory and power of Christ’s resurrection, Philippians 3:10-11. Paul absolutely would not have tolerated smudged eyeglasses, either, especially in regard to his faith-sight. “For we walk by faith, not by sight,” he wrote in 2 Corinthians 5:7. He was too focused on his goal of the “high calling of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:14) to be distracted by smudges in front of him.
You may have cracks in your windshield because of sin or trouble in life. The trick is to get out from behind them now and then and take in the scenery that lies just in front of you. Looking up the road ahead, you need to see clearly the hope that lies at the end of the journey. It’s a beautiful thing, too pretty to be marred by annoying cracks.