Really, everything has changed.

Even as the sun

Arises, stars piece the dark

And sing of His love.

This is the message we have heard from Him and declare to you: God is light; in Him there is no darkness at all. 1 John 1:5

Where charity and love are, God is there.
Love of Christ has gathered us into one.
Let us rejoice in Him and be glad.
Let us fear, and let us love the living God.
And from a sincere heart let us love as one.

Our visible, created universe is not simply an object created by a wholly other God in order to manifest God’s love, but the created universe is that love itself—the very heart of God, fully expressive in the dimension of time and form. -Cynthia Bourgeault

The name in German for mercy was Barmherzigkeit—“warmheartedness.” Mercy is the holy element, the root energy out of which all else in the visible universe is made. The Mercy is “holy substantiality”—the innermost essence of being itself. It is that “river of God,” running like the sap through the tree of life. - Jacob Boehme (1575-1624)

So I did the brisk morning walk thing this morning down and back to Tucson’s river… as the Catalinas were just catching the rays of the new day’s sun. The full moon had already crossed the night sky and sunk behind the western hills, but the starlight gleamed, casting the now ancient waves of love.

He is light, and in Him there is no darkness.

My brother Tom just had a cataract cut off of his left eye. And only as he can, he articulates the power and beauty of sight:

Tracy and I walked down the dirt road, stars breaking out overhead; oncoming headlights approached.

 I closed my right eye and looked: Crisp, clear lights pierced silhouetted trees and highlighter grass stems along the roadside. 

I closed my left eye and looked with only the right: A milky-white refulgence diffused my field of vision. I hesitated in my step, afraid to step into the car’s path.

                 

                  this morning, looking into the mirror…

Wrinkles around my eyes; some sag along my mouth; swaths of missed, unshaven chin; sparsely-covered scalp, dotted with sunspots and freckles. Some rogue nose hairs clambered out from my left nostril.

I guess there’s a lot to consider from a single-eye cataract surgery. It’s the same swap as flat-earth to round-earth, geo-centric to helio-centric, Newtonian physics to Einsteinian relativity.

Really, nothing has changed.

Really, everything has changed.

We don’t yet see things clearly. We’re squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won’t be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We’ll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing Him directly just as He knows us! -1 Corinthians 13:12

Who knew that the number one surgery in the United States was cutting out cataracts? Cataracts develop slowly, but eventually they interfere with our vision– not seeing people’s expressions clearly, making it difficult to read, to notice nature, making it even dangerous to make judgment calls.

Every year about three million people have their clouded lens that lie behind the iris and pupil removed and replaced.

Such is the state of man, clouded vision.

Mom said that after her surgery, “leaves on trees appeared as individual leaves not just a green clump.”

Jenny said that she was “totally mesmerized by the shadows underneath pieces of gravel for a long time.”

But, she added, “But it’s also true, it changes only my perceiving of things.”

Dear LORD God, wield Your truth. Slice away all that keeps me from truly seeing. Replace my cloudy lens with Your light.

May I truly see Your creation, and thus Your love.

For You are love.