smoke gets in your eyes

St John Chrysostom talks to us today about living clear lives, free of smoke, in A Year with the Church Fathers. He talks about how the worries and cares of this world fill our lives with smoke. When we aren't being clouded by the smoke of our fears, we're having difficulty seeing past our desires. We need to blow that smoke away and experience life the way it really is, clear eyed and sober.

Many of us try to avoid that clear, sober experience of life because of pain. Pain isn't something we usually enjoy facing head on... we try to alleviate the experience through medication or at least distraction. And that's certainly understandable. If you're going to suffer, even if you're offering your pain to God to unite with Jesus's suffering and to do as Paul described, "I fill up in my flesh what is lacking in Christ's sufferings", you still don't usually want to experience that pain without some alleviation.

But aside from pain, I think we would benefit greatly from taking St John's advice and casting aside the distractions of fear and desire that fill our eyes with smoke and keep us from clearly seeing the life that God has given us. We miss so many blessings every day because we're rushing ahead to what's coming or we're regretting what's happened in the past. We spend so much time worrying about things that will never happen. We waste so much time feeling guilty about things that have happened before, or we harbor grudges that fill our minds with the smoke of anger and prevent us from experiencing the joy of crisp, clear daily life.

God, please help us clear the smoke from our eyes and clearly experience the lives You've given us.