Open your eyes

Do me a favor. As you read this, close one eye. Better yet, take your hand and cover that eye up so you won’t forget and actually peek. Now before reading further, look around the room. What do you notice? Can you see anything in your peripheral vision? Do you have to turn your head farther to see any certain directions? Now, keep reading with your one working eye.

Let’s change gears and talk about that thing holding you back. Picture it in your mind. Is it finances? Is it health? Is it problems with your job? What if you get so used to a problem, you forget it’s even there? Let me give you an example. I work out several times a week. One day, I noticed that I couldn’t quite bend my ankle the same way. It seemed like I just couldn’t stretch it as far as the other ankle. I figured I may have injured it slightly, and I moved on with my workout. A day turned into a week, which turned into a month. Life got busy, I kept working out, and suddenly, that ankle not bending was just a normal part of me. I didn’t even think about it anymore. It was just my ankle. It didn’t hurt. It didn’t prevent me from going to the grocery store, raising my family, or completing workouts. I still had a successful career, cute kids, and fun friends. My ankle was just my ankle.

So time passed. In fact, a whole year passed. Then, I injured my shoulder. It hurt badly enough that I went to my first ever visit to a chiropractor. He evaluated my shoulder, my back, and then *CRACK* my ankles. The next day, I went into the same stretch that I always do, and my ankle stretched itself. I was in shock. Because really, I had forgotten that my ankles were different. Suddenly, I had a new freedom of movement that I didn’t even know that I was missing.

The reality is that without my shoulder injury, I could have spent the rest of my life with that stiff ankle. But once I had that taste of freedom? There was nothing sweeter. I felt like I could suddenly run faster, and lift heavier.

So, what’s holding you back? What are you just accepting because you are used to it? Do you always have a comma in your credit card balance instead of in your checking account? Do you just accept that as a fact of life? God promises you freedom. To me, freedom means a choice. I have a choice in my health. I have a choice in my finances. I have a choice in my emotions and my reactions.

So that means I can choose to be blind to what’s happening to me. Or I can choose to be self-aware and take a step towards my freedom.

In the book of James (1:23-24) he writes, “For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like.”

Have you forgotten what you look like? Have you accepted something that you shouldn’t have? Now, take your hand off of your eye and look around. Did it take a second for your eyesight to adjust? Did you forget that you had your eye closed? Or, was it awkward enough that you were aware of it the whole time? Do you suddenly feel the room is brighter, that you can see more than ever before?

Today, I want you to take your blinders off. Look at the world around you. Figure out what's holding you back. Choose freedom.