Eduard, His Glasses, and God's Perspective

I See, I See, a children’s book I never knew existed until I walked into my 7-month-old’s (at the time) bedroom to read a book to him and there on the nightstand sat this book. I have never heard of this book like Go Dog Go, Frog & Toad, Tikki Tikki Tembo, and Love You Forever. In the top right corner of the book’s cover was a sticker from Bargain Books.

 

“$5.00” it read.

 

The book is about a boy who struggles to accept the fact that he has to get glasses because of his poor vision. When he walks into the store, the saleswoman notices his reluctant attitude towards the specs he needs and whispers in his ear to tell him something that transforms his perspective. From then on, he witnesses that what she said about the glasses was true! He embraces his additional accessory in large part because of what this saleswoman said to him. Every page after the eventful afternoon in the glasses store is another anecdote that there is something beautiful about wearing glasses.

 

This is what the saleswoman says before he puts the glasses on:

“With glasses you will see things that other people don’t. Special things. Just wait and see.”

As the boy’s hesitation turns into trust that these glasses can help people see what others don’t, his optimism also grows little by little. His faith in believing what the woman said paid dividends, and he began to look for opportunities to see the things other don’t.

 

I often feel that way with God. Each day, especially in the classroom, I deal with numerous challenges, setbacks, interruptions, expectations unmet, disgruntled parents, misbehaving students - the list goes on. When I manage to put on the Jesus glasses at any point in the day, it helps me see things I wouldn’t see if I never put them on in the first place.

 

I think God enjoys walking with us in that daily journey. When I submit to wearing the glasses God gives me in the form of faith and trust in him when I see the world his way, it becomes an adventure to see how God will show up through me and reveal his thoughts about a situation like how the previously unseen things revealed themselves to the main character in I See, I See.

 

For example, I have a 5^th grade student, and we will call him Bradley. One particular Thursday, a regular Thursday in the middle of November, Bradley was upset that another student was picking on him about his handwriting. He became so irritated, he belligerently expressed the injustice he felt for being called out the way he was. Important note: Bradley has a history of overreacting to situations by fixating on them and reeling over the fact that he is being unfairly treated – when he is unfairly treated, it makes sense to be frustrated, but from an emotional maturity standpoint, it is a struggle for Bradley to cooperate as a 10-year-old when he is emotionally unsettled. He simply becomes unglued, like a 4-year-old in a 5^th grader’s body. To make matters worse, him and his assigned group were completing a project that was overdo because things came up when we were supposed to finish, so any disruptions in the flow of the group project was reason to become frustrated as a teacher.

 

In other words, the kindergarten level behavior exhibited by 5^th graders was not something I was prepared to confront nor was it anywhere close to what I wanted to deal with at the end of a long day.

 

Without glasses, I would have reacted emotionally and would have drawn incorrect conclusions long before approaching the bickering students to do some fact-checking. In fact, I probably would have done know fact-checking. Bradley would have been wrongly accused because he was the one drawing the most attention to himself and looking at fault by becoming ubhinged about the issue.

 

With glasses on, God helped me take the high road of patience and love. I responded with wisdom – some of it tough love – empathy, and patience. I needed God’s help. There is no way it would have ended well without his guidance on how to discern the situation before bulldozing my way through it.

 

I am grateful because the student in the wrong – or at least what created the snowball of arguments – was not who and what I thought it was. Seeing through the perspective of how God sees things gave me what I needed in time of need: patience, wisdom, and gentleness- the fruits of the Spirit - among others.

 

The point is, it is easy to overreact in the field of education. Expectations are never met by 100% of the students, so the most important tool in the classroom, I would argue, is the glasses God gives me each day. The glasses, when I choose to wear them, gives me the fruits of the Spirit I need to be the image of Jesus the students so desperately need.

 

And “desperately” is a understatement.

 

I wouldn’t make it in the field as long as I have if I ignored those glasses. As Brandon Heath once sang, “Give me Your eyes for just one second
Give me Your eyes so I can see
Everything that I keep missin'
Give me Your love for humanity
Give me Your arms for the broken-hearted
The ones that are far beyond my reach
Give me Your heart for the ones forgotten
Give me Your eyes so I can see”

 

Without the glasses, it is impossible to see what others don’t. It's impossible to see what God wants us to see in others. With them, I can see people the way God does, and isn’t that what we hope to do daily?

 

Give those glasses a try at your workplace, home, or wherever life takes you. They are not just designed for my classroom. It’s free, and God will take you incredible places with them if you make a daily decision to use them. He desires to partner with you, speak through you, and use you to do things you couldn’t do on your own. Look no further than what he did through Noah, Abraham, Moses, Solomon, Esther, Joseph, the disciples, Paul, and so many more.   

 

And at the end of the day, I guess $5.00 is quite the bargain in the picture book world.