The Eyes of a Child

In the early 1960s, a serious play accident meant that Jeanette Hardage’s eldest daughter was in danger of losing her right eye. After significant medical attention and time to heal, in December of 1961 the family Christmas letter reported that, despite pessimistic prognoses from the child’s doctors, her eye had attained 20/25 vision with a contact lens. Jeanette celebrated that tremendous progress by quoting Matt. 19:26, “with God, all things are possible.”

During the ordeal, Jeanette’s daughter displayed a surprising faith in God which made a deep impression. In the previously unpublished piece below, Jeanette shares her thoughts on her daughter’s declaration of faith and her own desire to see the world with the eyes of a child.

Simple Faith

When our oldest daughter was six years old, she suffered a serious eye injury. She lay in the hospital for three weeks, as the doctors tried to save her eye. With both eyes bandaged, she learned to recognize people by their footsteps. She heard me arriving one morning and greeted me excitedly with an announcement: “Mommy, I’m going to be able to see out of this eye!”

I swallowed hard, knowing the outcome was still in doubt, and replied weakly, “Well, honey, we aren’t sure what will happen yet.”

With an impish grin, she countered, “Yes, I will. When I get to heaven, I will see.”

The questions linger for me: How often do I keep my focus where it should be–not on this world with its problems and sorrows–but on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith? Do I serve God with eternity in view? Do I worship the Lord with gladness? What about “simple faith”? Sometimes it isn’t so simple; it comes with difficult questions, including questions about how much of myself I allow the Holy Spirit to inhabit.

My prayer is that I might have the eyes of a child with simple faith: eyes that see beyond today or next week or next year, eyes that understand that when I get to heaven, I will see.