FOCUS

Focus

Like many people that I know, I wear spectacles, or eye glasses. When I was about sixteen years old I noticed that my eyesight was defective and sure enough a visit to the opthalmologist and subsequent eye test proved that I had myopia or in other words shortsightedness and needed corrective lenses. I was prescribed corrective lenses which would enable me to see normally and since that time I have always needed to wear glasses.

Myopia is a condition of the eye where the light that comes in does not focus on the retina which is in the back of the eye. Because of this the image that one sees is out of focus when looking at distant objects but comes into focus when looking at a close object.

I don’t know the reason why I and many others have defective vision. I have read that there are many different varieties of myopia and I suppose that there are many reasons why I and others should be affected. The reasons perhaps don’t seem to matter now that I have been used to using corrective glasses for so many years.

I have noticed on reflection that many aspects of our mortal life have parallels with our spiritual life and condition. Just as without corrective lenses I cannot focus on certain physical objects it is also true that without corrective spiritual vision we also cannot focus on spiritual truths and objects.

Just as an eye test is necessary to exactly determine the degree of defect in physical eyesight, so also we can conduct tests to determine whether our spiritual vision needs correction.

If I do not wear corrective lenses I suffer from blurred vision, I experience headaches and my eyes ache because it is the natural tendency of the eye to attempt to stay in focus and when this is not possible the muscles surrounding the eye become strained.

In the course of my lifetime I have noticed that many people who have defective vision do not use corrective lenses. They get used to living with their defects. Their way of squinting and straining their eyes to look at distant objects or reading close-up, while inconvenient has become second nature to them and they do not notice that their vision is impaired even sometimes severely. It is equally possible not to notice ones spiritual impairments and to avoid taking measures to correct spiritual defects.

When our spiritual eyesight is impaired we fail to see that we are out of focus with the teachings of the Savior and his prophets, or with local church leaders – even our Stake President or Bishop.

Visual impairment such as myopia as much physically as spiritually causes us to see what we want to see and concentrate only on those things that are close at hand while ignoring the warning signs that reveal to us that we have need of corrective lenses.

Staying in focus is one of the most serious challenges of our daily lives. There are certain important things that we need to do to correct our defective spiritual eyesight. In order that we can then see correctly we need to study and read the words and teachings of the Prophets, Apostles and of the Savior. As we do so with sincerity and with a desire to correct our faults and defects he will reveal to us those aspects of our lives that are in need of correction. He will tell us in the sweet feelings of the spirit what we need to do and as we do so we find that our lives become conformed gradually to the point where we are once again in focus with his life, light and spirit.

The scriptures contain a partial history of God’s dealing with his children on two continents. Within the books of the Holy Bible and the Book of Mormon, God teaches us about his nature, his work, his creations, his laws and his plans for mankind. He reveals that he is a being of great love and devotion to his children, a being of great mercy and compassion, a God who cares for all his children. He reveals in the Doctrine and Covenants of the Church that the value of a human soul is great in his sight. Through his prophets he teaches us the way for us to live so as to attain to the greatest of riches, that of eternal life and so that we don’t think only in terms of a future world to come he reveals how we may enjoy an abundant life also on earth through obedience to his commandments.

The scriptures therefore contain an abundance of commandments which he has at different ages and times given to mankind, not all of which are actually relevant to us today but these nonetheless give us an insight into his divine character and the means he uses to accomplish his purposes. As we become familiar with the scriptures our focus on the nature and character of God is sharpened and our ability to trust in and love him is increased. Just as with the use of corrective lenses we can see more clearly so also as we focus on Christ and on the works of the Father our spiritual focus and understanding of life is sharpened and developed.

Sincerity of belief in our personal life is not in itself a defining witness that we have corrected our vision because sincerity alone does not establish the truthfulness of a principle. Only the witness of an unimpeachable character can do that and that character is the Holy Ghost who reveals to our heart and soul what truth is. To aid us in our desire to obtain a knowledge and sight of truth – or in other words to become in focus with the Lord and his Gospel we also need to communicate with him through the act of prayer.

Focus in prayer is as much an attitude as it is an action of faith. God, our Heavenly Father and his Son, Jesus Christ, are real beings. They love us and have done all in their power to provide us with an opportunity to experience mortal life and progress through obedience to their commandments so that we might develop their same characteristics and qualities. Their knowledge of us extends to our earliest times in the pre-existence and because our memory of that state is temporarily veiled from us we need to rely on them and receive from them light and knowledge, understanding and revelation with which to be constantly guided by them. In order that we can obtain these blessings we need to both qualify ourselves to do so as well as to pray and ask for those things of which we stand in need.

If we are trying our best to follow their divine guidance and live according to their instructions we therefore have no need to fear that our prayers will be not heard, rejected or answered. But sincere prayer requires us to focus on certain important matters. Firstly, we address our Heavenly Father, as the Savior taught us to do with humility, recognizing him as the creator of the universe and all that exists in the heavens and on the earth, worlds without number. He knows all things, even the thoughts and intents of the heart, so we need have no reluctance in approaching him. As a father myself I appreciate it more when my children express thanks to me for those things I have provided to them. A simple sincere thank you means a lot to me. But when children constantly come hands out wanting a freebie without a thought to spend enough time except to ask me for something I feel reluctant to spoil them and just give and keep giving without any consideration on their part for the value of those things they want or the means expended to provide them.

Focusing on prayer requires more than just kneeling or sitting down and closing ones eyes full of glee asking and asking again and again for what I want as if by magic it should just happen without any effort on my part. The Lord God does not promise to give us everything we want but he does recognize that we do have genuine needs. He also expects us to obtain what we want by our own efforts before we come to ask him for the desires of our hearts. We can at least let him into our plans and tell him what we have decided and ask for his blessing so that he might give us direction on how best to obtain it if indeed what we want is good for us. At a point in his life, Nephi was told by the Lord to build a boat to take him and his family across the ocean. As Nephi’s family lived in Jerusalem all their lives it is hardly likely that they had any experience in boat building.
But Nephi trusted in God and asked simply if He would direct him to where he could find ore to make the necessary tools. Noah also was told to build an ark without any prior experience of any such kind of huge venture and the Lord gave him knowledge on how to accomplish the otherwise impossible task.

When praying therefore, our focus needs to be as much on what we can do to earn the blessings that we desire as it is on what the Lord can do for us. Just because we do not get an immediate answer doesn’t mean that the Lord has ignored our request. The exercise of faith in prayer requires that we trust in Him and give him the time and opportunity to provide us with what we need.

We cannot always know what is best for us. There are many things we may feel would be good for us but even so we need to trust in the Lord. He alone knows what is good not only for us but for all of his children. Father knows best. Even Jesus when he prayed asked his Heavenly Father that “his will be done”. So should we! We are taught that “in patience possess your souls”. That is good advice. It is a thoughtless and selfish person who eagerly expects immediate answers to all his questions without doing much to obtain then. If we always got what we wanted when we want it God would be no more than a magician and our faith in Him would be unaided and undeveloped. It is good sometimes that we learn to focus on what we want, do the best we can to obtain it ourselves and then ask the Lord and then wait. Even the man blind from birth who Jesus cured had to wait while Jesus made clay from his spittle and put it on his eyes. As he began to see men as trees his faith and belief increased and he was able to have enough faith to be healed. It was not that the Lord lacked the ability to heal him instantly. So it is with us. The Lord works with us so that as we increase in faith our sight of spiritual truths comes into focus.

Ultimately our focus on the Savior should lead us to see as he sees, feel as he feels and love as he loves. The Apostle John wrote in this manner: “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.”

As long as we need and wear corrective lenses we can see normally but when we remove them our sight again becomes defective and blurred. So it is in spiritual matters. We need corrective spiritual lenses just as we do physical ones. We cannot put off Christ and hope to retain 20/20 vision. The daily practice of faith is an essential discipline that makes us gradually whole. This includes regular daily prayers, daily individual scripture study and thoughtful application of Christ’s teachings and doctrines. It requires patient application of Gospel truths, trust in God’s powers to teach us through life experiences and also to apply to us the healing balm of Gilead that comforts and diminishes the pain, hopelessness and sorrows that we experience in life’s journey.