Perspective

Why do you see what you see?  Why do you not see what you don't see?  Many times it may because we're looking at something the wrong way.  Perhaps we're looking at things just from our bias point of view.  Maybe we're looking at it from a warped perspective.  Maybe we're not seeing the whole picture.  Either way, sometimes our own thoughts get in the way of what is true and what is real.

Rose Colored Glasses:
Have you ever heard the phrase that someone is "looking through rose colored glasses"?  It's great to be positive, but if we're looking at something with rose colored glasses on, it probably means we're failing to see the truth - that something may be wrong or that there may be a problem.  Our rose colored glasses may keep us from seeing people in need, people who are hurting, or dangerous obstacles that are in our way.  They may keep us from seeing our own faults, as well.

Hear this, you foolish and senseless people, who have eyes but do not see, who have ears but do not hear.

Jeremiah 5:21

Shades:

Wearing shades or sunglasses shields the brightness of the sun, but if we wear them all of the time, the whole world will appear dark and we might fail to see the light.  As Christians, we should be living our lives as lights of the world.  Our lights should shine brightly - even brighter when we're in the darkness of the world, but if we're wearing shades all of the time, we will get a distorted view of the world.  We may see nothing good, but only see bad.  Our attitudes might become negative.  We might get down and feel like giving up....that our efforts are worthless because darkness surrounds us everywhere.  Our negative attitude will begin to affect our minds.  Then our negative minds will cause us to have negative actions.  When everything seems dark, we may get the idea that sin is okay.  We may say, "everyone is doing it" or "no one will know".  With shades on, the world is a gloomy place.

When daylight is gone, the murderer rises up and kills the poor and needy; in the night he steals forth like a thief. The eye of the adulterer watches for dusk;  he thinks, ‘No eye will see me,’ and he keeps his face concealed. In the dark, men break into houses,  but by day they shut themselves in;    they want nothing to do with the light. 

Job 24:14--16

Blinders:

When blinders are put on horses, it is done so that they can only see what is right in front of them.  They aren't distracted from things all around them and also can't see what might be right next to them.  When we wear blinders, we fail to see what is obvious.  We look in front of us and see what is going on there, but we fail to see what may be near to us.  It's easy for us to see the faults of others with blinders on, but we don't look at ourselves and see our own problems.  Our blinders will cause us to blame others, without seeing the bigger picture.  We don't get the whole perspective on things, but only what is right out in front of us.

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
Matthew 7:3-5

Wrong Prescription:

Wearing glasses or contacts that are the wrong prescription is not only aggravating, but can keep us seeing things that are either far off, or things that are very near.  We're not seeing clearly when wearing the wrong prescription.  When were looking at things with distorted or blurry vision, we may believe things that aren't real or may fail to see things the way they really are.  Things may seem terrible when they really aren't that bad or things may seem good/safe when they are really dangerous or bad.

Wearing the wrong prescription may also keep us from seeing what is real.  We may forget what God and Jesus have done for us because we get caught up in sin again.  The lines of what is right and wrong begin to blur.  We begin to believe that our Christian walk doesn't really matter.....that we're all okay and God doesn't care.

For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge;  and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness;  and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.  But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.

2 Peter 2:5-9

So, let's take off the rose colored glasses, the shades, the blinders, and the wrong prescriptions.  Let's look at things in our life - around us and in our own lives - with clear vision and with un undistorted view.  Let's see what's real.  Let's see what's truth.  Let's see our lives and the lives around us just as God sees them.

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