Perceptions and Misinformation

 

(from medicaldaily .com)

The way I saw it then must be completely different from the way I look at it now. I’ve changed glasses so many times, each pair with new lenses. Aging will do that to you.

Perhaps, as we get older, forgetfulness can be a blessing. I don’t think I really remember how things came together and fell apart in my childhood. That was so very long ago.

How a child understands, and processes things varies with the world they see and how they see it, sometimes based on how they are told to see things. It’s crazy to think that sometimes we process what we’re seeing through the lens of how we think we’re supposed to see it because that’s how we are told it works.

Maybe it was unintentional, perhaps we just overheard something or picked it up from a television show, or even in a song like, “Big Girls Don’t Cry” – a classic song we can still hear echo through our minds.

Or maybe we have vivid memories of hearing the phrase, “Do you want me to give you something to cry about?”

Maybe we recall a scene from a movie where we saw a girl painfully stifling her tears, insisting that she cannot show weakness, vowing she’ll “never let them see her cry”.

(from parentingwithunderstanding .com)

We may not even remember where we learned some of the silly notions we still keep filed away in our minds.

Ideas such as these may have taught us that tears equate to weakness (which is so far from the truth it’s mindboggling).

We may also have learned that it’s prudent not to cry, or that people like us better when we don’t cry.

It’s easy for busy and distracted adults to, intentionally or not, manipulate young children, especially those who are too eager to please those around them. Children often learn to do this to each other, as well, most likely not realizing what they’re doing – but that it somehow makes their lives “easier”.

There are outcomes to falling for something that isn’t true. Sometimes they’re unintended consequences. Other times, they are very intentional plots of deception.

For example, as manipulated children become adults, we’re often trapped in the mindset that pleasing others is more important than learning to establish healthy boundaries.  The very people who helped solidify those dominating thoughts and feelings certainly have no healthy boundaries of their own, whether they realize it or not.

No doubt, I’ve mentioned that I often find myself exploring “the lies we believe”. It fascinates and frustrates me that our minds can believe things that we should or could know are not true, or that we decide that something is true based on a lie or misinformation.

(from linkedin .com)

Big girls do cry.

It can be fear, pride or stubborn determination that keeps us from showing weakness or vulnerability.

It may make us “easier to deal with” when we don’t cry, but that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to cry under any circumstances.

There are plenty of great reasons to cry, whether they’re tears of joy or tears of sorrow.

Tears have much value.

“…You have collected all my tears in your bottle. You have recorded each one in your book.” – Psalm 56:9 NLT

Crying is just the example I’ve used to make my point. I could have used a myriad of other examples.

(from stir.ac.uk)

My point to ponder today is this, what are we believing that isn’t actually true?

While we grow up and mature, we uncover some of these things incidentally. But to discover others, we must purposefully look.

What examples can you share?

(from youtube .com)

Trusting You'll Breakthrough

(picture from startcaving .com)

I believe that “breakthrough” is simply the breaking down of the walls that separate us from God's perfect will in our lives. I also believe the bricks of those walls are made of the lies we believe.

Imagine being trapped in a mine cave-in, a wall of rubble stands between you and your freedom. From inside you feel helpless until you recognize you're not alone. Your best friend, your most trustworthy friend, is there showing you which rocks to push and which to pull to prevent further cave-in and make a hole in the wall. This is Jesus revealing the lies in each rock. We can see the rock (the lie) but choose not to move it, perhaps out of fear - because it LOOKS like moving that one will cause the rest to come tumbling down on you.

We get to choose to listen to His voice or fall back on our own wisdom, becoming our own voice of authority; the voice that failed us in the beginning.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.” – Proverbs 3:5-6 (NIV)

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek His will in all you do, and He will show you which path to take.” (NLT)

“Trust in and rely confidently on the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own insight or understanding. In all your ways know and acknowledge and recognize Him, and He will make your paths straight and smooth [removing obstacles that block your way]. (AMP)

(picture from mediqus .com)

When we listen and obey, we remove one rock at a time, or rocks tumble away because we obediently removed the right one. Aha moment! “Sonlight” bursts through the darkness! (God has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.  1 Peter 2:9 ) Fresh air comes through the passageway providing refreshing, rejuvenation and hope.

Can we trust our friend with the next few rocks? One hole in the wall won't lead to freedom unless we make that hole big enough to pass through. With refreshing and new hope, we are encouraged to push or pull the next rock He points to. If we stay with it, the hole will eventually become big enough to make our way through. Sometimes, God may even instruct us to make that breakthrough passable to all who come that way, removing even more of the rocks as we make our way to freedom.

We might be able to exist in the cave with our friend, Jesus. But He wants to take us all the way out of the cave, into His glorious creation - physical AND spiritual. There's so much we haven't even seen or been exposed to yet.

If you’ve been in the cave a while, it’s familiar. Familiarity can be sneaky because we're already accustomed to our compromised position.

(picture from cftministry .com)

When Peter stepped out of the familiarity of his boat (that was already sinking) into the fiercely wind-whipped waters in obedience to Jesus calling him to Himself (which looked impossible to do), where was Peter safer? In the boat that was going down, or stepping out in faith, even though this was something he’d never done before? He’d never seen anyone walk on water – till then.

Jesus didn't build a sturdy bridge for Peter to step onto; He needed Peter to trust Him.

What walls do you need to breakthrough today? Will you trust Him?

It might require doing something you’ve never done before….

The Excellence of the Guard; My Conclusion

(picture from pinterest .com)

Our hearts hold untold treasures. Go ahead, try to list them. That's sure to renew your joy!

We’ve also stored plenty of memories in there; we’ve buried feelings and emotions there.

How can we guard it with excellency?

God said to “Guard your heart above all else,” Why? “for it determines the course of your life.” – Proverbs 4:23 NLT

He doesn’t tell us to do anything we’re not able to do – with Him.

I believe our hearts are that hidden place where our spirit and soul come together; the place where God lives, if we let Him. Just as we have a triune God, we are triune beings. We ARE spirit, the part of us that is redeemed from the sin of the world; the part that joins into union with God Himself. We HAVE a soul (our mind, our will and our emotions) and we LIVE IN our body till we leave this world. When we come to Christ and invite Him to live in our heart, it involves submitting ourselves to Him completely. Many of us want God to save us from hell’s destruction after we leave this world but have absolutely no desire to become one with Him and submit the smallness of our humanity to the only all-knowing, all-powerful, omnipresent God.

Whether we know Jesus or not, we can guard our minds. We can be disciplined and hyper-vigilant about what we take in, at least for a while. We can stive to watch wholesome entertainment, we can study certain topics while deliberately avoiding others. We can limit who and what we surround ourselves with.  But plenty of garbage gets past us. We’d have to live alone on a deserted island to not get input from others. That’s not where we live.

(picture from pinterest .com)

Whether we know Jesus or not, we can guard our bodies, though few of us have the discipline or perhaps resources to do so. Some are very determined to have healthy bodies. We do the best we can with what we have. But we all have unwelcome input that makes its way into our bodies, via our food or the air we breathe or the water we drink. To not get that input, we’d again have to live on that island and now it would have to be an island that could provide for healthy body requirements.

Only when we DO know Jesus are we supernaturally empowered to adequately guard our heart. That power comes from being united with the source of ALL power. By guarding our hearts, we become better equipped to guard our soul and our body.

The ONLY way to guard our heart is to follow biblical instruction, given to us in Romans 12:1-2 (NIV). “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”

This means submitting ourselves to God, renewing our minds (spending time with God and His Word) and putting our hearts in His hands. Does doing this mean we will never suffer attacks? No, we’re promised attacks. But the more quality time we spend in His Word, the more easily we’ll recognize the assaults the god of this world and come against them. With God, we are the most excellent of the Guard.

(picture from youtube .com)

With God living on the inside of us and being joined together with us in the most intimate way possible, we can tap into His power. When we do OUR best, we weary ourselves. There’s so much to pay attention to around us. All our energy is consumed by constantly being on guard. We lose our creative energy and abilities to glorify God. By joining WITH GOD, we become capable of guarding our hearts, (where our being comes together), and doing it well. We are too weak to do it without Him and the struggle will make us weaker. The excellence of the Guard comes only through relationship with the God Who created our heart in the first place.

The Excellence of the Guard

(picture from pinterest .jp)

When someone speaks the word “guard” my mind automatically goes to a picture of one of the guards at Buckingham Palace. I’ve been there to see them in person.

The next image that comes to mind is that of a prison guard. Next would be the picture of a man or woman assigned to executive protection for someone important. (That used to be one of my husband’s jobs.)

If someone was guarding me, providing my protection, I’d expect them to have been trained and know how to ensure my safety. I would likely leave everything up to them, since I most likely don’t have their level of training. I believe the best guards have the best training available.

There are times we’re called upon to provide protection for someone and fail. I’m the guardian of my young child, if they run out into the street right in front of me and get hit by a car, I’m responsible. There are circumstances where it wouldn’t be the parent’s fault if their child got hurt. Evil people work hard to get around the safeguards put in place. I may do everything right and still see my child hurt in some way.

(picture from feri .org)

Different targets require different levels of protection. The Crown Jewels on display in a museum probably has more guards around it and a higher security level than children in our local schools. Okay, maybe that’s not a good comparison, no matter how accurate it is. But no one is guarding my lunch box in the frig at work, yet many people are required to guard a dignitary.

Value usually plays a role in the level of protection something or someone is provided. So how do we determine value? We all make different calls when it comes to placing value on something. I might treasure a book, but a non-reader would never consider a book something of value. Most of us value money and place a decent level of protection around the little we have. Beyond even our children, whom some of the parents we see on the news seem not to value at all, what could be considered of most value? What should get the highest level of protection?

Scripture tells us to, “Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life.” – Proverbs 4:23 NLT

I believe that our hearts are that hidden place where our spirit and our soul come together; the place where God abides, if we let Him.

“No, my dear, your heart is not a closed receptacle.
It’s not a box to hold your memories.
It’s not a sack in which to carry your worries.
It’s not a trophy to be dusted off occasionally.
It’s not a hole to bury things in, good or bad.
It’s never filled to overflowing nor is it ever empty,
no matter how you feel.
It’s not a thing that can be handed over to someone else,
even though poetry tells us so.
It’s the center of your being,
where everything is filtered
as it comes in or flows out of you.
You have the controls,
even when everything feels out of control.
You may not be able to determine everything that comes into your heart,
but you’re in charge of what flows out.
Hurts will find their way in.
Pain will pierce your heart.
Fear will grip your heart.
Loneliness will try to trap your heart.
Panic will arise to scare your heart.
But the Maker of your heart has His hand on your pulse.
He knows your heart, even when you’re trying to hide it.
He sees your heart, even when you feel invisible.
He hears your heart, even when you can’t cry out.
He lives – in your heart.
Trust Him with everything that comes in and flows out.
That’s where your control is greatest, that’s where your power emerges,
that’s where your hope springs from, that’s where your peace mounts,
in deciding Whom to entrust it to.
When God is your source and your filter,
He eases the pain of the bad and stirs up the excitement of the good.
He gives you the option to pour out good, godly love all over those around you,
or to spew evil just because – you can.
The filter in the middle of your heart is made of God’s fingers,
upon which are written in His blood:
FORGIVENESS.
Have you clogged that filter with bitterness?
He will wash all of that away in an instant if you ask Him to.”
- Helen Williams!  12/2022

I’m open and ready to hear your suggestions. How do we guard our heart?

Look for part two, my poem took up too many of my words. (wink-wink.)