"He Hath Opened Mine Eyes"

My Story: 

Last weekend I went camping up in the Utah mountains. I woke during the early hours of the morning and found myself sitting by the cold fire, gazing up at the stars. They were so beautiful and bright. Wearing my glasses, I could see innumerable stars. But upon removing them, only four or five blurry balls of light were visible.

As I pondered on this miracle of modern technology, I was filled with gratitude to my Father in Heaven. If I lived in any other time period, I would never have the blessing of seeing the stars, or the birds flying in the trees, or the moose walking in the distance.
Truly, the Lord has blessed me with sight.

When I was little, I was diagnosed with Exotropia or, in common English, lazy eye.
One at a time, my eyes would shut off and wander out. The risk was always there though, that when my eye shut off, it would never turn back on. The doctors agreed that the problem needed to be fixed before I became partially or even fully blind.

At age three, I had my first eye surgery. The doctors operated on the muscles in both eyes. My memories of this surgery are as follows: a waiting room, dark shapes moving around me, a pink stuffed rabbit, and a silver stuffed kitten.

At age 10, I had my second surgery. For this surgery, my memories are more detailed. The doctor's appointments in Salt Lake. The tour of the hospital. My mom right beside me the whole time. A stuffed raccoon. Being wheeled into the operating room. Laying on the table with the light above me. Waking up afterwards. The nausea. Throwing up in the bathroom across the hall. And one blood red eye.

I remember later, too, going back to school and scaring my classmates with my eye. Wearing sunglasses in class to hide it. The eyepatches and eye exercises to strengthen my weakened eye.

I remember. But what is more important than remembering is this: I see.

And I am constantly grateful for each tiny detail of the world that I get to witness.

In the quiet of the night, I watch the stars. In the busy of the morning, my eyes follow the fluttering of the birds. In the gray of the clouds, I see the rain fall from the sky. In my niece's face, I see her joy.

Going blind is one of my greatest fears because my sight is one of my most treasured gifts.