The Year of Vision

Students run on different calendars than the rest of the world.  Everyone else marks years in spans of 12 months, 365.25 days, repeating in a cycle that flows from January to January.  Students, though, have a year that runs from August to May, with a netheryear in June and July.  When we say "last year," we probably don't mean 2011.  We mean the last time school was in session. 

And so when I say this is the Year of Vision, I'm not listing New Year's Resolutions early.  School started for me about a month and a half ago, and God and I had a date in the parking lot of Garden of the Gods (as a side note, one of my favorite things about living in Colorado is that a half hour drive takes me to places like this).  I prayed for a while, asking him what he wanted for this year.

God, I said, it's my senior year.  I'm going to turn eighteen.  I have to apply to colleges and figure out what I'm going to do with the rest of my life.  I would really like a vision or something.

And God, in the rising bubble of God-voice that nudges somewhere deeper than my heart and finally bursts into coherent phrases, God said You don't need a vision, you need vision.

Yeah, I need vision.  Sometimes I've wanted soul-glasses so I can see clearly now.  I have problems with seeing accurately, or sometimes even at all.  I need something more powerful than Lasik to undo the blindness that keeps me from noticing the blaring neon signs that say ATTENTION!!!!  GOD IS HERE!!!! 

So this year, the Year of Vision, my divine optometrist named God has been working on correcting my sight.  I've found him in some pretty unexpected places lately.  Did I expect that being nominated for homecoming queen would lead to some excellent conversations with friends about God, security, and identity?  Or that my friend would email me a Bible verse on a day I needed it very badly?  Or how 'bout those lovely aspens beginning to glow golden on the mountains? 

Yes, God is everywhere.  I just need the vision to see him.