Today's object is spectacles.  Evidently three-quarters of the world's population need to wear glasses, and 90% of over-sixities ought to be using them.

I've been recognised as being severely myopic since I was ten.  I can remember the first time I went outside wearing glasses and discovered that individual bricks and individual blades of grass could now be distinguished at a considerable distance.  In the last few years, aging effects mean that my short-sight is less severe and some long-sight is beginning to creep in. So now it's varifocals.

The social history bit of today's chapter is a helpful reminder that, whilst short sight would have been known about in Bible times, means of overcoming it were around a thousand years into the future.  The story of Jesus healing the blind man who, to start with could see vague shapes but no details, would have rung true for many early hearers (and would be me if I went out without my glasses).

The focus passage today is from 1 Peter and is about spiritual or moral short sight.  If our values affect the way we see the world, and so respond to it, then we need to be aware of them.  It gives me pause for thought to think which lenses I choose to view the world, and how that affects what I see and how I respond.

Loving God, I know that even 20-20 vision isn't enough unless it is accompanied by the right attitudes and actions.  Help me, as I view the world around me, to look carefully and closely, and to respond with tenderness and grace.  Amen.