Seeing Past the Scratches

 

I was trying to clean my eyeglasses the other day when I realized something discouraging.  As I held them up to the light, I noticed how scratched they had become. The lenses looked worn and marked up in a way I had not really paid attention to before. It made me wonder how I had been seeing clearly through something that looked so imperfect.

But there  is something quietly fascinating about my scratched eyeglasses. If I hold them in my hand and look directly at the lenses, every flaw stands out. The scratches seem obvious, distracting, even overwhelming. But the moment I put them on and look out into the world, they almost disappear. You can see clearly again, as if the damage is no longer there.

The scratches did not go away rather my focus simply changed.

When I was looking through the lenses, my attention shifted to what is beyond them. My eyes and my mind work together to prioritize what matters most in that moment. The small imperfections on the surface become background noise. They are still present, but they are no longer the center of my awareness.

Life has a way of doing the same thing to us.

We all carry scratches. They come from loss, disappointment, change, and the quiet accumulation of hard moments. They are real, and they shape us. When we stop and look directly at them, they can feel sharp and all consuming. It is easy to get caught in that place, examining every mark and wondering how things could have been different.

But when we begin to look through the lens instead of at it, something shifts. Our attention moves outward. Toward the people in front of us, the responsibilities we hold, the small moments that still ask for our presence. The scratches do not disappear, but they lose their power to define everything we see.

This is not about ignoring what has happened or pretending it does not matter. Reflection has its place. There are times when we need to sit with our experiences and acknowledge them honestly. But living there can make the world feel distorted and heavy.

Clarity comes when we gently redirect our focus. Not to some distant, perfect future, but to what is right in front of us. A task to complete, a conversation to have, a quiet moment to get through. Looking through the lens allows life to come back into view.

The truth is, you can still see clearly even with scratches.   I still need to get a new pair of glasses, but for now, I am grateful that I can see past the damaged lenses.