We’ve recently discovered that our nine-year-old’s eyes are not functioning as a team. One eye wanders to the side when he is trying to focus, making everything blurred or doubled. He’s always passed eye tests with flying colors, because they only test one eye at a time.
To fix this, he is going to weekly eye therapy and doing 20 minutes of eye practice at home each night. It’s very eye-opening (ha) to try some of his assignments. Last week he had one called “pointer in the straw.” While wearing a patch over one eye, you hold a drinking straw in front of you with one hand, and with the other hand try to slide a wooden skewer through the straw. This is a pretty fun game. I skewered my hand several times. My son is actually very good at it, probably because he’s been working with one eye for quite awhile.
Our depth perception is based on our two eyes working together. My son thought it was pretty funny when I could not get the silly skewer into the drinking straw. But, I could do it easily when I used both eyes.
The book of Ecclesiastes says, “Two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work: If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up! ” Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 [NIV].
Just like two eyes functioning together, God designed people to work together. One of the first things God said about the new human He had made is that it is NOT good for man to be alone (Genesis 2:18). He immediately set out to create a helpmate for him.
At my mom’s group today, a special guest speaker talked to us about friendship and finding support. It’s important, she reminded us, because “…in this world you will have trouble (John 16:33)” and we need our friends to support us.
Just like my son’s eyes can function separately, we can survive on our own. Sure, we might run into walls occasionally and have trouble reading fine print, but we can get by.
Whether it is friendship, marriage or family relationships, think of how much better it is when we pull together as a team. Sometimes relationships take a bit of work. We may have to “practice.” We may — like my son’s eyes — even need professional help. But it should be worth the investment and it will see a “good return.”
God designed us to function together as a team. Let’s work together and remember to help each other up.