53. What Are You Training Your Eyes to See?

Darkness is loud right now. And if we're not intentional, it's easy to let it become all we see.

In this episode, Vona explores one of the most practical — and most powerful — shifts available to us: learning to train our eyes toward the light. Drawing from a memorable moment at a Toastmasters meeting, a morning spent at a young man's funeral, and the quiet faithfulness of her own father's final days, Vona offers a deeply personal reflection on what it looks like to choose peace, purpose, and gratitude even when life is hard.

Because the first thing God created was light. And that tells us something about who gets the last word.

In this episode:

• Why we find exactly what we're looking for — and how to use that truth to your advantage
• How to hold grief, fear, and uncertainty without losing your footing
• What "finishing well" actually looks like — witnessed firsthand at a celebration of life
• The promise in John 16:33 that becomes the floor you stand on when everything else is shaking
• A simple weekly practice to help you begin retraining your eye toward the good

Scripture referenced:

"Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world." — John 16:33

This week's challenge:

Write down three things that are good and true in your life right now. Not because the hard things aren't real — but because the good things are just as real, and they deserve to be seen.

Courageous Retirement is for believers who are ready to finish well, live with purpose, and embrace the best season of their lives. Learn more at VonaJohnson.com.

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Transcript

Speaker 0:00

Darkness is loud right now. War, division, sickness, evil. It streams at us from every screen, every scroll, every conversation. And if we're not careful, we start to believe that the darkness is winning. But here's what I keep coming back to. The very first thing God created was light. Not order, not land, not even life, light. And I think that tells us something about who gets the last word.

Speaker 2 0:30

Do you fear what lies beyond retirement? What if it's a gateway to a life filled with purpose, meaning, and adventure rather than an end? Discover peace and fulfillment as you boldly enter this new chapter in Courageous Retirement, a Christian podcast. I'm your host, author and coach Vona Johnson. Let's get started.

Speaker 0:49

This week at Toastmasters, I was the designated grammarian, the person whose job it is to catch the filler words speakers use when their thoughts need a moment to catch up with their mouth. The ahs, the ums, the sos. Our main speaker is pretty new to the group, and she used nearly twenty of them. Here's what got me, though. Her evaluator stood up afterwards and praised her for an excellent speech with almost a complete lack of fillers. She genuinely believed it, because she wasn't looking for them. That's how it works, isn't it? We find what we're looking for. Train your eyes on the negative, and you'll never run out of evidence. Train it on the good, and you'll find that too, even on the same day, in the same room, listening to the same speech. So here's the question I want to sit with today: what are you training your eyes to see? The war rages on. Evil streams from our devices without end. Loved ones get sick. Businesses fail. Our favorite candidates sometimes lose. But we don't give up. We find the lesson. We look for the good. We offer encouragement, and we carry on, because we know the battle is already won. In the meantime, we choose where we fix our eyes. We invest as much time or more in the scriptures, uplifting reading, and the company of people we love, as we do in the news or the latest drama series. It's my birth month, and I want to tell you, I celebrate that. I don't dread birthdays. I don't begrudge getting older. I know the aches and pains will eventually catch up with me, but I refuse to go looking for them ahead of schedule. I've watched family members blazing the trail of aging ahead of me. I know that heart disease and dementia are real possibilities in my future. But instead of scanning the horizon for signs that they're coming, I'm exercising, I'm eating a little better, and I'm staying curious, doing what I can while I can. I've watched my parents' worlds grow smaller and smaller, and I know that that can be me someday. My prayer is that when that day comes for me, I'll be like my dad, who, in his final days, had forgotten so much about his life, but never forgot the one thing that mattered, that he was going home to Jesus. This morning, I sat in a funeral of a young man who was my son's age, a husband, a father, a son who was vibrant and full of life just two months ago. His family could have dressed that room in grief, and no one would have blamed them. Instead, they filled it with bright colors. They told stories that made people laugh. They talked about eternity like it was a destination, not a consolation. They chose deliberately, courageously to focus on the light. And I kept thinking, "That is what finishing well looks like." Before I got to that service this morning, I sat with a list of people I'm holding in prayer right now. A widow who will raise her teenagers alone. A friend burying her mother. A relative at Mayo Clinic waiting to learn whether doctors can repair the damage to his heart. A family carrying two mortgages, waiting and hoping for a buyer. Someone I love dearly spending time somewhere I wish they weren't. I can't fix any of it. But I sat with each one of them in prayer, and I trusted that the same God who is present in the bright colors of that celebration of life is present in each and every one of those hard, heavy situations, too. Jesus said it plainly, "Here on Earth, you will have many trials and sorrows, but take heart because I have overcome the world," John sixteen thirty-three. That's not a platitude. That's a promise. And when you know the one who made it, really know Him through time in His Word and a faith built on more than feelings, that promise will become the floor you stand on when everything else is shaking. I have no idea how much time I have left, but I know I want every day to count. Ironically, the things that fill my cup these days are simpler than they used to be. An evening with people I love, a good meal, a glass of wine, a game with my grandkids, a good book, time in the convertible with Steve. These things aren't a consolation prize for a smaller life. They're the gifts I used to be too busy to fully receive. Five years ago, I celebrated a milestone birthday with the phrase, "Life just keeps getting better." I still believe that. Simpler is better. And retirement? This season, right here, right now, truly is the best season. So before you close this episode out, I want to leave you with one small challenge. This week, write down three things that are good and true in your life right now. Not because the hard things aren't real, they are, but because the good things are just as real, and they deserve to be seen. They deserve to be recognized. We can choose to reflect God's light into the places we are, or we can hide while the darkness closes in. My prayer is that you'll choose the light, that you'll speak freely about the peace that passes all understanding, and that you will finish this journey well. Go, be blessed, and always live your more. I'll see you right back here in two weeks. Until then, keep living your more with courage, and remember, your best season may just be beginning.