Sight is different from vision. Sight usually refers to how our physical eyes see. The dictionary defines it as “the faculty or power of seeing.”
Vision, on the other hand, can have another meaning other than “the faculty or state of being able to see.” A second common definition is “the ability to think about or plan the future with imagination or wisdom.” This includes what you see in your mind’s eye, like imagining how a redecorated room will look, what you want a finished work of art to be, or making yearly business goals. Vision also helps us see into the hearts of people we love, or even just know casually.
I’ve always admired and envied people who can look at a room and just know what it will look like with new furniture or a new rug. I have to take a photo of something new in the store, and then hold the photo up in my own room to “see” it. That’s why people pay professional decorators! I can copy Pinterest type creations but have a hard time thinking them up myself.
Of course, we all want to be able to see clearly physically. I may have the beginnings of a cataract in one eye, so even though it’s the eye I instinctively use when looking through the viewfinder on my camera, I have had to train myself to use the other eye. Annoying, but easily overcome.
In life, though, seeing with open hearts and our “vision” eyes wide open is critical to being able to communicate with and understand other people with effectiveness and feeling. I sometimes get so involved in my own daily chores and ordinary happenings that sometimes I am blind to what’s going on even in my own neighborhood. I am ashamed to admit that an elderly lady down the street passed away a few weeks ago - and I’d never even met her.
My vision, or goal, for my life includes being more open to who and what is going on around me, where I “live, work, and play.” Most importantly, I want to see clearly so I don’t miss sharing both good and difficult times with family, friends, and neighbors. I don’t want to miss out on the richness of life, which always involves people rather than things.
With carefully thought out and prayed over goals, a clear path will become more visible.
The photos of the flowers were made with my Olympus camera and a Lensbaby Velvet 56 “art lens.” I love the softer, more out of focus look of flowers like these. I know a lot of people like clear sharp photos with everything all in focus, and that’s perfect for many subjects, but my preference more often than not is softness and diffused light.