more on vision

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Wow! A lot of comments about my Friday Five!

Real vision and metaphorical vision questions seem to be in the air.

Re: real vision - a plug for good eye care. My keratoconus went undiagnosed and untreated for 20 years because I skimped on good eye care. I went to the place that was cheap, or the chain that was covered by the 'add-on' vision policy. It was not until I became so frustrated with my contacts that I went to a real eye clinic that I got the complete exam that set me to getting proper correction.

So, if you have astigmatism that is hard to correct, if you see halos or distorted shapes around lights, if you have a lot of trouble with glare, if you look at your Christmas tree without correction and the little glow around the bulbs is not round, but oval or squashed, if your toric contacts always flip upside down (that happened to me) - go up to a complete clinic with all the diagnostic tools. Ask if they have them - computerized topography, automatic refraction assessment are two.

And if you are diagnosed with KC, then ask/look for an OD who has specialized training in fitting the KC lenses. This is not something that most docs do - there are special courses/training through the manufacturers for the lenses. My OD limits her practice to this condition - she has it herself.

And make sure the clinic fights with the insurance company for coverage for your exams - they may not cover contact fittings - although they should - or the contacts themselves, but the exams need to be regular (between 6 weeks and 6 months, depending on where you are on the disease spectrum) and are medically necessary. The exams check for rapid changes, edema (swelling) and associated problems.

And vision as metaphor. It's funny that vision is the topic because vision is the buzz word around work right now. "What's our vision?" "We need a vision for this worship service." "We have a vision statement, we just don't use it." "You - pastors - should be leading our vision."

During one conversation I said something like: "let's restate that idea as 'we want to be inviting people into community.'" And later I realized that common-sense and practical statement was a better 'vision' statement than the abstract and careful official ones of my congregations.

We can use that statement to judge ourselves right now - do we have a community to invite people to? How does it function? Are we being inviting or not? Unlike 'living out the Body of Christ' - there isn't a lot of theology to explain. And the verb isn't as abstract - it's right out there - invite.

There's a lot to be said for just saying it straight.
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