Have you ever wondered how our eyes see and how our brains make sense of it all? I like to ponder such questions, especially if I am discouraged.
When my faith begins to wobble, because of one circumstance or another, I like to focus on God’s marvelous creation. A sense of calm steadies my uncertainty. Our brains are even able to bring back recordings of previous sight adventures to use at a moment’s notice. (This is an amazing miracle in itself.)
As I am writing this, I see a late spring snow blanketing our yard. I have been seeing white for six months and am thoroughly ready for a summer camping trip. In the meantime, I will have to use my memory album. There, I see the varied greens of the pine and the birch, colorful flowers decorating the meadows and velvety moss adorning the light granites and dark escarpment. My eyes pick up the tiniest details. I see through the creek flowing swiftly over rocks and judge the depth of the water. (My verdict is not always accurate.) I turn the page in my sight album to an inky black night without street lights. I can gaze into the campfire while an unfathomable number of stars twinkle and shine from multiple trillions of miles away.
Eyes are like cameras which send information to the brain. Our eyes, which contain about 107 million light sensitive cells, are made up of cones and rods, which do everything from discern color to adjust for sight in darkness. It has been estimated that each of our eyes sends a billion impulses per second to our brains, and then our minds sort through them and choose their significance.1
Our eyes come equipped with fluid to lubricate and cleanse our lenses and shutters to block out irritants or danger. Our Creator thought of everything!
As much as our eyes see out, I am fascinated by how our eyes speak volumes. They are like a window to our souls, and if lips say one thing and eyes another, it is best to listen to the eyes.
To look at our physical eyes is a wonderful exercise, but some of our eyes are weak and some are blind, so we may need more than that. The most amazing idea is that we not only have physical eyes, but we have spiritual eyes as well. The Bible uses over 500 references to eyes, and many have spiritual significance. So, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” We can look to the One who made our eyes, and He will strengthen our wobbly faith.
1. Jess, John D., The Birds and the Bees (Chicago: Moody Press, 1978) 32
© Sue Carlisle 2013. Sue Carlisle is a member of the Ponca tribe and spent much of her youth on the Wind River Reservation in Wyoming. Her passion is to encourage people to look at creation and see our awesome Creator.
