The Chronicles of Biscuit - Perspective

The Chronicles of Biscuit: Stories about our youngest son, Tyler, whose nickname is Biscuit.

Perspective means a lot in the way we each see things, doesn't it?  For example, today our daughter's softball team got beat twice in the District playoffs, which means their season ends.  She and her teammates were naturally disappointed; however, when Biscuit asked about the outcome of the game and, I told him they lost, his response was, "Yes!  Now I have more free time!"  And, I can't blame him. He does spend a lot of afternoons going to his sister's and brother's ball games.  On the other hand, if they were his games, he'd be just fine with it!

We all see things in different ways.  We're all unique.  Someone's "glass half full" may be someone else's "glass half empty". Many times neither opinion is right or wrong - it's simply just different ways of looking at things.  The only time it would be right or wrong is if someone's view happened to be in conflict with what the Bible says.  God's Word has many things that are listed as wrong - as sin - and it doesn't matter whether someone chooses to believe it or not.  It's still sin.  On the other hand, many things are just our perspective - our take on things - and don't really matter (they may matter to us in a personal sense, but they don't in a spiritual sense).

This sounds really strange, I know, but it took me a long time to realize that my opinion was simply my opinion.  I believed I was right - pretty much all of the time.  Terrible, I know!  I was a lot like the Pharisees Jesus condemns so often in the Bible.  I can't say that I never have those times still today, but for the most part those ideas are gone.  I see a tiny streak of that same attitude in one of our children, so it makes me work even harder to rid my life of that sinful attitude. (Children have a way of showing us how we are (both good and bad), don't they?

Here's a cute little story about perspective:

I Hate Bees!

          A little boy was playing outside and was stung by a bee.  He went into his house crying and said to his mother, "I hate bees! I wish God had never made them." The mother eased his pain, then sat him down at the table and gave him some toast and honey.

          The little boy said, "This is great!"

          "You really do like honey, don't you?" the mother responded,

          "Like it?" the little boy replied, "I love it!"

          The mother then said, "The same bee that stings also produces the honey you are enjoying right now."

          Her son thought for a minute and said, "I never realized there was a good side to that bee!"

          We can view a bee as an enemy that stings or as a friend that produces honey.  And that's the way it is with everything in life.  We can choose to look at the plus side in every situation, or we can choose to look at the minus side.  The difference will be one of living a life of depression or a life of rejoicing. (Kent Crockett, The 911 Handbook, Peabody, MA: Hendrickson Publishers, 2003, 83-84) This story found at www.kentcrockett.com