With this newfound time I have on my hands, I started some home improvement projects. My bedroom now has a fresh coat of paint, “Rain” by Sherwin Williams.

It’s been a while since I’ve painted, and what I thought would take a morning turned into an all-day ordeal. Night fell, and there’s nothing worse than painting a room without natural light, especially at the final touch-up stage.

And that’s right where I was.

“Come here, kids! I need your eyes!”

I had looked at “Rain” until I couldn’t tell if it was gray or blue or the original aqua I was trying to cover. I needed someone to look at it to see the bare spots I had missed.

There have been other times I needed a fresh set of eyes:

• Finding a misplaced set of keys or cell phone
• Proofreading a letter or important email
• Searching for 10 cents on a bank reconciliation when I worked for an accountant. I spent the better part of two afternoons hunting for a stupid dime among the expenditures and deposits. I eventually gave it to the other girl, and she found it in less than half an hour.

Thank goodness there have always been people to come along, when I was frustrated at my own lack of vision, to help me find what was missing.

Now what a pickle we find ourselves in. Quarantined, sheltered-in-place, staying at home, whatever you might call it. It’s like we’ve all had the “reset” button of life mashed, and we are trying to figure out a new normal.

Some of us have lost jobs or income. Some are working more hours than before all this started. The kids are home. Schools are closed. Businesses shuttered. Appointments canceled.

And we can see it one of two ways: we can be clouded by our fears and frustrations, or we can see opportunity among the uncertainty.

We need a fresh set of eyes.

“For this people’s heart has been calloused; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them. But blessed are your eyes because they see, and your ears because they hear.”

Matthew 13:15-16

This time can be a reminder that life turns on a dime, pandemic or not. We are all one hair’s breadth away from eternity at any given moment. We have all had our share of close calls, some we are well aware of, and others that, if we only knew, we would be a good deal more thankful for the Grace that sustains us.

Thinking about that makes me want to get up and do something.

It makes me want to spend more time with my kids.

It makes me want to write.

It makes me want to send someone a card or a letter and put a sticker on the envelope to seal it up.

It makes me want to pray. A lot more.

It makes me want to see the sunrise and drink a cup of coffee.

It makes me want to take walks and grow vegetables and catch fish.

Life will return to normal. Soon enough we will be back to the coming and going. But I hope that when we are all back together again, we can keep the lessons we have learned during this time and remember them.

May our mental and spiritual eyes be permanently opened to the beauty and opportunity around us, to live life with intention and purpose.

I desperately need that kind of vision, because my physical eyes will always be lacking.

Proof? I have now misplaced that most useful of tools, my little round vacuum cleaner brush attachment.

I’m going to find it, one of these days. God knows I’ve got the time to look for it now.