A Prayer for the Eyes Themselves

The psalmist prays, turn my eyes from looking at worthless things; and give me life in your ways. What moves me here is that he asks God to do the turning. He does not say I will keep my eyes from worthless things, as if it were entirely a matter of his own strength. He knows his eyes have a will of their own, that they drift toward what they should not see almost before he decides anything, and so he prays for help with the turning itself. That is an honest prayer for men like us, who have felt the eyes move on their own, drawn to the image across the room or the thumbnail on the screen faster than thought. You can ask God for help at that exact level, with the reflex, with the pull, with the involuntary drift you cannot seem to master alone. And notice what he asks for in the same breath, life in God's ways. He is asking to be filled with something better, because eyes turned from the worthless still need somewhere good to rest. Pray his prayer as your own tonight, in your own words, and mean both halves of it.