I have several item that belong to my daily list of “Favs”. Okay, that list should probably be more accurately be titled “Not So Favs”! Sigh. Alright. Let’s be perfectly honest… That would be my list of “Things I Hate”! And right at the very top of that list is “Glaucoma Eye Drops”!

I should pity my wife… But maybe if I give her a hard enough time, she’ll just forget about the whole thing! Not that I give it any conscience thought, but my body reacts without me telling it to. My wife says I have the strongest eyelids in human history. As soon as I lay back and she removes my glasses, my eyelids screw shut so tightly that you can’t even see I have any! They just kind of “disappear” into the eye sockets! Or so my wife says.

I will hand it to her. She tries womanfully to administer those drops, but her fingers are no match for my eyelids! Most days she says she can’t even see my eye, even after prying on the eyelids for what seems like hours. She always puts the drop in; but I’ll be the first to admit that only 5-10% of the drop ever actually reaches my eye ball!

Not that my wife complains in front of me… I only know all of this because she was telling it to my Ophthalmologist this morning… I think maybe she was hoping he’d tell her she could stop trying. Well, I don’t really know what she was hoping, but that was certainly my hope! But it was not to be. Instead, he began describing what he feels in a “surefire” way of administering those drops! He said to have me lay a bit on my side, and then to simply put the drop in the corner of my eye. He said that only 5% needed to get in to do the job, and when I eventually open my eye, which I inevitably would do, the remaining liquid would seep in…

My wife hasn’t had a chance to try this yet, but I’m already busy contemplating how to thwart this plan…

It does make me think, though. It makes me think about my Christian influence.

You know, some people are as closed to the gospel as my eye is closed to those awful drops. As soon as you mention anything even vaguely associated with Jesus, they just stop listening. They can’t stop “listening” to our actions, though. If we are careful to always be Christ-like in our actions, some is bound to seep in. Maybe when they can’t sleep, they might remember how you reached out to help them, despite how they treated you. Or they may recall how you always try to not complain about things, and they may begin to wonder if this is one of the reasons you always seem joyful…

There is a lot to be said about our actions. As my mother-in-law always said, they scream way louder than words. So loud, in fact, that even the most closed-minded-to-Christ person you know will perhaps notice them; and maybe over time, they will begin to want what they see in you! In fact, Jesus’ dearest disciple penned words very similar to these: “Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth.” (1 John 3:18 NIV).

Do you find yourself needing to administer eye drops to an eye that refuses to open up for them? Try just putting the drop in the corner of the eye… And when you find yourself trying to witness to someone as closed-minded to Christianity as my eye is to those drops, try showing that person love in actions and in truth! You never know when some will seep in!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Director, Answers2Prayer Ministries