What Are You Looking At?

(photo courtesy of raviolisandwaterworks.com)

Have you seen one of these VW Bugs with eyelashes?

While driving home the other day I thought, “Lord, what should I blog about next?” There in front of me was a pretty Bug with eyes making me smile and ask, “What are you looking at?” And there I had my answer.

What are we looking at?

Do we see the rocks on the trail, or the flowers that adorn our way?

Are we looking for evidence for what we want to believe, or for reasons why we believe what we do?

Are we looking to our future with anticipation or carrying the weight of the conclusions that we’re bound to fail?

Are we looking for excuses to give up, or reasons to step forward?

There are so many directions to look, so many things to see in the various areas of our lives.

I think we generally see what we’re looking for, although occasionally we are surprised.

Sometimes when I reckon my checkbook, I may expect to be “in the red” but delight in finding out I’m not.

I may tentatively get on the scale, expecting to have gained a few pounds, but sigh with relief when I see that I haven’t.

But, if I’m looking for reasons to be lazy today instead of being productive and whittling away my to-do list, I’ll most likely be found sitting here playing on my laptop or perhaps even taking a nap. If I look to fail, I will.

Where is my focus? I’m focused on what I’m looking at.

When Dave and I go to the shooting range, if I’m not looking at my target, I’m not going to hit it. This applies to life in general, too. If I have no goals, how can I move forward? If I look at the television all day, nothing on my to-do list will get marked off by bedtime.

So, what’s the scope I’m looking through? At the shooting range, it’s easy; the scope is there on my gun. But, by what do I aim my life? Are there sights I can line up with; to live my life by?

Yes, indeed, I have available to me sights to line my life up within, a scope with which I can find my objectives.

God’s Word, commonly called the Bible, provides everything we need to live a life that’s filled with peace and will keep us in line to reach our goals, IF we apply what He says to us.

This is the scope through which we need to stay focused.

What are you looking at?

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the LORD upholdeth him in his hand.”  Psalm 37:23 & 24  (KJV)

“Cast your burdens upon the LORD and he shall sustain thee: he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved.”  Psalm 55:22  (KJV)

Focus and Magnify

Magnification becomes more important to me the older I get. I need to magnify the words I read through the glasses on my face, now more than ever. Without the help of these magnificent image enhancers, I’d miss out on so much, especially words. The lenses clear up my misconceptions about what I see without them.

 

Magnification doesn’t actually make anything bigger, accept the appearance of what we’re looking at. Through a microscope, we can more clearly see microbes found in a drop of water, they appear larger so they’re more easily focused on, and seen as they truly are.

 

So make sense with me, of the cry of the psalmist, “O magnify the Lord with me, let’s exalt His Name together.” (Psalm 34:3)

 

My experience and ponderings lead me to believe that the more I focus on God, thus magnifying Him, the more clearly I see Him and what He’s doing in my life. The more I focus on my problems, the more magnified they become. So I can either play up my problems to the point where I can’t see anything else, or I can praise God, lifting up His Name in my home and in the marketplace and see Him move on my behalf.

 

When I magnify the Lord, as the psalmist invites, His presence appears larger to me, His image enhanced and His blessings more recognized; my purpose becomes more focused and aggravations that assail me fall to the blurrier parts of the picture, often falling off into oblivion.

 

Since I began wearing glasses some years ago, I notice more and more when driving down the street, how little I actually look at along the way. My car can take my mindless self to where I intended to go, occasionally, I admit, with some minor backtracking, almost as if I engage some sort of autopilot feature. What else do I miss out on when I’m not looking at it, or for it?

 

Come focus on the Lord with me, let’s lift up His Name everywhere!

Perception

Perception is everything. It’s responsible for life and death decisions and for unwinnable arguments and most likely for every war waged.

Years ago I spoke for a Christian women’s organization, my topic? Perception. You can tell me at every turn and show me in every manner you can think up – that you love me. But if I perceive the motive behind your words and actions is something other than love, I won’t believe you love me.

If I perceive something to be a myth or a lie it will be quite difficult, even next to impossible to convince me otherwise, even if you present me with evidence that backs an opposing view point.

I don’t say this to suggest that I’m close minded and shallow, but simply to point out that most of the people I know – and I wouldn’t hesitate to suggest that most people in general, think in like manner. The reasons we believe the things we believe vary as much as the infinite array of ideas we entertain.

But what do we do when we recognize that someone close to us has skewed perceptions? Do they necessarily see things incorrectly, or is that merely our perception?

What makes one viewpoint correct and opposing viewpoints incorrect?

As a Spirit-filled Christian, I fall back to where I perceive the lines of truth are drawn – in God’s Word.

Yet listening to the viewpoint of a teenager the other day, I had to agree when he pointed out that one can use scripture to argue most any point. Scripture can be twisted and taken out of context – and who’s to decide the correct context of God’s Word?

When I write a poem, perhaps I am actually the only one to know its true intent, because it came from my heart.

When God gave us His Word – it came from His heart. He alone can know the true intent behind every word He’s given us. Only His Spirit can impart His intent to us. When we invite His Spirit to live within us we have access to His heart and the very mind of Christ…. Have you tapped in lately?

Don’t believe you can perceive truth without Him. And though you pray or believe He exists doesn’t mean He resides within you – He has to be invited in and allowed to rule and reign on the throne of our heart. Though He created you and breathed life into you, the one thing God doesn’t possess until you choose to give it to Him, is you.