Dependence

A few weeks ago, as I was stumbling around in the bathroom at the wee hours of 6:25 am, I washed my right contact lens down the sink. As I quickly realized what had happened, my body jolted awake and I rushed frantically to check the areas around the bottom of the sink. I raced downstairs to pick out the perfect wrench and screwdriver from my housemate’s box of tools and desperately tried prying the trap apart, imagining my contact lens had settled just at the bend of the pipe. However, I was not that fortunate. It was lost forever.

I tried calming and reassuring myself that I could just call my vision center that day and order a new one and it would come within a few days. I also had my new glasses that I bought a few months ago, and so they would hold me up while I was waiting for the contact to arrive.

I first tried going to work with only my left contact lens. But because of my terrible eyesight, I soon got extremely dizzy and disoriented and had to throw on my glasses during my lunch break. Then as I tried wearing my glasses the next couple days, they kept slipping off my nose and pushing against the side of my temples and bridge of my nose, which led me to take a couple trips to the vision center to adjust them. They were definitely not the most comfortable pair of glasses.

Eventually, I resolved to switch between wearing one contact lens for a few hours and then putting on my glasses for another few. Needless to say the next week (more than the few days I anticipated) was probably one of the most distressing weeks of my life.

One of the days I was at work wearing just one contact lens made me think about how dependent I was on them. One small piece of plastic could dictate my entire life and when it wasn’t present, my life was completely thrown out of whack. I started thinking about other material possessions and how reliant we can be on them. It made me realize just how fragile and weak we human beings are. We surround ourselves with all these belongings that are supposed to make our lives easier, yet when our car breaks down or we lose our smart phones, we freeze in place not knowing how to live our lives without them.

Our utter dependence on these things is skewed because God is the only One who should receive our full trust and dependence. How many physical possessions can we absolutely not live without? What would happen if our cars, laptops, or iPhones vanished? Would we still be able to lean on God for strength and help? Or would we stand in shock and surprise, not knowing what to do, our lives so wrapped up in these physical possessions and not centered on Christ? May we resolve to fully depend on God above all else!

Author: Micah Shyu