Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.

I Corinthians 13:12 (NLT)

We thought 2020 would be the “year of perfect vision,” but we found it to be one where our vision was limited to our own home for much of the time. We didn’t expect to be isolated in so many ways because of a coronavirus that was a totally unknown quantity. Now, a year later, there are over 400,000 deaths and I imagine most of us would not be able to say that we don’t know someone who has died.

We thought the year would flow like every year preceding it — travel, vacations, weddings, graduations, birthdays, holidays — but it didn’t. We learned how to use Zoom and Facebook to see our children and grandchildren. The dining room table became our office. We ordered masks to protect ourselves and others. Six feet between people in line became the norm. No more eating out at a favorite restaurant or taking in the latest movie. The streets are empty of traffic as people followed the rules and stayed home.

An election occurred in the middle of it all. The results upended everything on both sides. Repercussions of a divided nation led to violence at the US Capitol that felt like we were watching a mob in a third world nation. Death, destruction, and heartbreak were unleashed on the “land of the free and home of the brave.” An uneasy peace has settled but there is no rest as we wait for the next impeachment trial.

At a recent appointment, I was elated to hear my Retinologist confirm that my eyes were better as he read my scans before he gave me my monthly shots for AMD. But, four days later, I woke up to no vision in my left eye. I called and immediately returned to the office and was diagnosed with an unknown bacteria that had had entered my eye when he injected it earlier. Antibiotic and steroid shots have followed every three to four days for the past two weeks. The “puzzling reflections in the mirror” are slowly dissipating. He assures me that the eye will clear up.

There are no assurances in life that what we plan will happen. The one thing I can count on is that God knows me completely and He will be with me, no matter what the virus is doing, the state of our nation, the availability of the vaccine, or less-than-perfect vision. I will trust Him even when my knowledge is partial or incomplete because one day all will be well and He will bring prefect clarity.