See it with faithsight

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I love words. That’s probably no surprise to anyone who knows me or even those who are just long-time members of this audience.

Maybe that explains why I have to be around books.  My dream home has a huge library in it.  The one I live in now has shelves filled with books, but I dream of being in a room where the walls themselves are the shelves of all my books.  I could spend literal hours in such a room.

Maybe that’s why I don’t visit the library that often.  If I did, I might never come out.  I’d be so enraptured by the words everywhere (not to mention the smell of old books) that I’d just park myself and stay — at least until a staff member kicked me out at closing.

Yes, I love words.  That’s why I was excited when a new word came to me while thinking about LDS singles life.  It’s a word that can help us meet our challenges with renewed hope and optimism.  What is this miracle word?  Faithsight.

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More than just eyesight

Yeah, I know.  If we were playing Scrabble, you could challenge me and totally win.  Faithsight is nowhere in the Scrabble dictionary, or any dictionary for that matter.  And my word processor keeps displaying that squirmy red underline, suggesting the word needs correction.

Yet what really needs correction is our vision.  Faithsight embodies a powerful idea, our need to see ourselves and our lives through the lens of faith.  Seeing with faithsight brings joy seeing with eyesight cannot.

Too often we LDS singles use only eyesight to see ourselves.  We look in the mirror and judge unrighteously.  We declare ourselves too this or too that, as though our declaration carried some binding finality.

We view our lives similarly.  It’s been years since anyone dated me, we may think, so why would that ever change?  Being divorced or never married means I’m damaged goods, and who’d want to spend eternity with that?  We pass final judgement upon ourselves because our lives seemingly prove we’re too familiar with failure ever to know success.

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A tale of two drivers

But that’s where faithsight expands our vision.  Eyesight can see only what’s physically there.  But faithsight can see what’s not yet but may be.

The story is told of a driver —  let’s call him Sam — who went to the hospital.  Sam sees a parking space close to the hospital entrance and maneuvers towards it when suddenly another car speeds into the spot first.

At first Sam is irritated.  What a jerk! he thinks.  Then the driver of the other car suddenly approaches Sam.  He apologizes, explains his pregnant wife went into labor at work, apologizes again, and rushes into the hospital.

Most initially think the second driver a jerk.  Learning more about the circumstances inclined us more towards understanding.  But what if the second driver had simply rushed off to find his wife?  His circumstances would still be just as compelling, but not knowing those we’d have been more inclined to judgment — and an unrighteous one at that.

It’s the same with our lives.  If we see only with our eyesight, we’ll likely judge ourselves and our true potential unrighteously.  But if we use our faithsight, we allow more room for understanding.

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Put on your faithsight

If we don’t truly believe deep down within ourselves that the Lord loves us too much not to bless us, we’ll likely see only with eyesight.  And eyesight can never see all there is to see.

That’s because eyesight sees only the past and the present.  It assumes your future will be no different than your past, creating a prison out of your present.  But faithsight sees your future as whatever you truly believe it will be.  That makes your present far more joyful.

If you believe all is lost, how can a glorious future ever come to you?  When you don’t believe, other people intuitively sense the negative energy you broadcast and choose accordingly.  But when you believe, you broadcast a more positive energy that others also sense.  They then choose accordingly.

Faith precedes the miracle.  You must believe in order to see what you can receive before you receive it.  Eyesight will never deliver that vision to you.  But you can see it with faithsight.

So put on your faithsight.  Let go of your limiting assumptions about your life.  Believe the blessings you want are real and just around the corner for you.  Not only will those blessings be more likely to be just around the corner, but your journey there will be much more enjoyable.

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