“Look at everything as though you were seeing it either for the first or last time.  Then your time on earth will be filled with glory”

— Betty Smith

Have your eyes grown tired?  There are places I go nearly every day.  I drive the same roads, walk the same sidewalks and trails, and cover the same distance.  There is not much that changes from one day to the next, and it is easy to develop the feeling that I have seen it all.  When I feel that way about the world, I may discover that I watch my own feet more that what lies left and right of me.  I may become lost in my own thoughts rather than really seeing the things I pass along the way.  It is a sad thing to allow your eyes to become glazed with boredom simply because they look at the same world from one day to another.

I woke my eyes a couple of years ago when I started to carry a digital camera.  I decided to allow enough time to stop and look closely at the things that seemed ordinary, and the result has been one that has sharpened my ability to see and appreciate the small details that join together to create the amazing scenery that I once took for granted.  I have zoomed in on the center of a flower and seen the delicate structures of the stamen and the pistil that allow for pollination and the existence of future flowers.  I have seen how bees, covered in yellow pollen, can deliver it from one plant to the next and participate in this miracle of nature.  I have looked closely at water droplets and have seen how perfectly spherical they really are — every single time.  I have seen the jagged beauty of ice crystals and dived into the secret world where insects live.  I have zoomed out with a wide lens and marveled at the expanse of the beautiful vault we call the sky.  I have learned to see the vast array of colors and shapes in the clouds of morning and the sunsets of the evening.

It was carrying a camera that restored my sight.  Now I see miraculous things wherever I look.  When I decide to leave the camera at home, I nearly always regret my decision later; because now that my eyes are open, I cannot help but see everything as though it were the first time or the last.  Open your eyes to the beauty of your world.  Take a look as though you were seeing it for the first time.  Savor each moment of wonder as though it were your last.  Stop stumbling through life with blind eyes — open them and really see the glory of being alive.