Just do it

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. (Colossians 3:1-2)

Are you serious about following Jesus this year? The past three weeks should have cemented your determination to follow wholeheartedly, or maybe you have chosen to remain in control of your life and be a little too stubborn for your own good. Christ's call to us today is to 'get serious about living for him - stop waffling, buckle down, and 'get er done'. 

Pursue the things over which Christ presides - stop shuffling along. A 'shuffler' walks that way because they are dragging their feet - they lack determination, are a little too resistant to the forward progress, or are so weighed down with life's cares they just have no 'pep in their step'. Christ calls us to look up. Stop focusing on all the things that bring us down and keep our focus on the things of this world. Instead, look fully into his face and begin to walk strong.

Be alert - not just awake, but alert. I have gone through times when I am quite 'awake', but I was not 'alert' to what was going on right in front of me. The more we get consumed by the cares of this world, the less we will look upward and see what he is doing all around us. When we begin to change our focal point, the view gets much better! The burdens we insisted on carrying ourselves aren't so important for us to carry any longer. 

If you are realizing today that you 'began great' with this new year, fully 'committed' to a new way of living, spending time with Christ each day, but now you realize you aren't 'doing very well' with that commitment, begin again. Sometimes all we need to do is allow Christ to change our perspective. We do that by changing what we focus upon. We may not be perfect in this commitment yet, but we are on the right path, so keep it up! Prepare to let go, then do it. Things change when we just do it. Just sayin!

More than half-hearted?

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. (Colossians 3:1-4)

Whenever someone asks me if I am serious about a matter, they are really trying to figure out if I am trifling around with them or the matter at hand. When I am serious about a matter, you usually can tell it, though. My focus changes from that of making light about a matter to being quite concentrated on the matter at hand producing whatever outcome is required. It is this change in focus that clues another into the "seriousness" of the matter and the desire to have all actions align with the desired outcome. This is true in our walk with Jesus - we can "trifle" around a little with it, or we can be "serious" about our focus. Either way, our focus will be determined by the way we are treating this pursuit - if seriously, then the outcome will surely differ than if we are only half-hearted!

If we are serious about living as though we have been resurrected into new life with Christ, our actions will reveal it in the way we "pursue" things over which Christ presides. In our lives, Christ is invited to preside over our minds, hearts, and will. In turn, we are called to pursue the things of righteousness which he produces within. We get consumed with the things right in our immediate focus and forget there is a bigger picture we are to behold. Whenever this happens, our perspective becomes pretty limited, and the actions produced by limited focus will always fall short of the actions produced when you can comprehend and apprehend the bigger picture.

Walking with my head down means my focus will be pretty limited because I don't see things around me, just the things at my feet. I might find something good with that view, but not very often. When we think about either living with what others have discarded or discovering something totally afresh and new, it does make a difference! When I look up, around, and down - I have changed my perspective. My "intake" of things around me changes when I change my perspective. In our spiritual walk, when we change our perspective of focus, our intake changes. We can go through life so "inwardly" focused, tightly holding our focus on how things will immediately affect us, or what is right in front of us, that we miss out on the things God has prepared for us just up ahead.

Whenever our focus is too limited, we find ourselves losing momentum. When all we can see is the immediacy of a matter, we don't hold out for the end. We want it to be over as quickly as possible - to see the outcome sometimes long before it was ready to be produced. The things God presides over in our lives are not usually produced with immediacy - they are cultivated. What is taking place on the inside matters. We might think we are ready to move onto the next step in our lives, but if we need more time to have the inside affected as totally as the outside has been, we won't be happy if we just settle on our limited perspective of the outside. God is at work on the inside. He is presiding over our hearts to bring balance to our emotions and commitment to our purpose. He is presiding over our minds to give integrity to our thoughts and see actions produced which are consistent and reliable. He is presiding over our will to reduce the variability of outcomes which are produced through either the stubbornness of our own wants and wishes or the disillusionment of pursuits way ahead of their time.

If we want to live as Christ desires, we need to determine if we are serious about our perspective. Perspective is beyond the immediate - it takes in the whole thing and helps us to form a "life picture" which differs a great deal from what we see when all we are considering is what life has laid at our feet. Just sayin!

Be an eagle, not a chicken

I stand silently before the Lord, waiting for him to rescue me. For salvation comes from him alone. Yes, he alone is my Rock, my rescuer, defense and fortress. Why then should I be tense with fear when troubles come? (Psalm 62:1-2)

Joyce Meyer says, "The eagle has no fear of adversity. We need to be like the eagle and have a fearless spirit of a conqueror." As you might imagine, standing 'silently' in the midst of situations where you can be pretty apprehensive or that evoke the 'fight or flight' response is doggone hard. While fear has a 'paralyzing' effect in most of us, we experience and immediate 'ramping up' of all those stress hormones that make us ready to bolt. Adversity comes our way, and we just don't know what to do with it. Is that really true? Don't we know we are supposed to take it to the Lord and allow him to show us how it is to be dealt with? Yes, we 'know' that, but do we actually believe it and stand firm in it when that adversity is 'tap, tap, tapping' at the door of our hearts and minds?

Tense with fear - that pretty much describes what those stress hormones manage to do to us just about every time we face something we are unfamiliar with, or that presents a challenge bigger than we think we can handle. The mind and body go into overdrive to convince us we are about to be eaten alive! The eagle has no fear of adversity - what do you think that means? Eagles are pretty much known to be the 'king' of birds everywhere. Throughout scripture, they symbolize strength, power, and authority. As an American, I know the eagle symbolizes freedom. Soaring high above the earth, they are majestic and mighty.

The eagle faces adversity after adversity and overcomes. The eagle doesn't hide from the storm - it uses the power of the wind to soar even higher and higher until it is gliding on the current of the storm. When storms come our way, do we soar or hide? As the eagle climbs to higher and higher heights, his body is growing stronger and stronger as he tears through the adversity of the storm. Eagles nest high up in the crags of the cliffs - high above threats and worries. Their nests are sturdy and sheltering. They have excellent vision - what we see as clear at 5 feet, they can see as clearly at 20 feet! Their vision is focused and intent - something that gives the advantage.

Be like an eagle and soar. See clearly when others only see things as a little 'blurry' or 'out of focus'. Be safe above all the hubbub of the day - you are 'nested' well in the crag of the rock of the Lord God himself. Just sayin!

That isn't what I thought I saw

Where there is no revelation, people cast off restraint; but blessed is the one who heeds wisdom’s instruction. (Psalm 29:18)

Many of us think of 'vision' as the ability to see with our eyes. When it is not there, such as when we have been plunged into darkness by someone covering our eyes with a blindfold, we grope our way through life, don't we? We have to rely upon our other senses or else we will stumble. How well do you move in this state of total darkness? Are your movements as fluid as normal? Not likely - you probably take shorter steps, feeling your way to make sure your footing is solid before you even take the next one. I think we sometimes approach our spiritual life this same way - with a "blindfold" of sorts making us "stumble along" with uncertainty and a lack of vision. Vision is more than what we see with our eyes - it is what we hope in our hearts, understand with our minds, and sense in our spirit. Perception and discernment - the combined form of actually "seeing" and "knowing". If you have ever seen something, but then had to ponder for a while what the thing was you were beholding, you might know what it is like to possess sight without understanding. If you can interpret the general shape of an object while blindfolded, you might be able to guess at what it is you are not seeing, but you might not know for sure. Perception and discernment go hand-in-hand. They are God's way of helping us not only walk, but to do so with assurance and firm foundation.

Perception is the ability of the mind to actually apprehend an idea - we call this cognition. Discernment is the ability to put some "discriminating thought" into what it is we perceive. In other words, we can make some "judgment" based on what we know. We are reminded that without vision a people perish. In other words, when we don't have a clear perception of the redemptive work of Christ in our lives, we stumble around a lot. We need to apprehend (comprehend) the redemptive work of Christ - making us new creations in him. We give a lot of "lip-service" to this idea of being new creatures in Christ, but I wonder how many of us are really wearing our blindfolds and just stumbling along trying to perceive, but having our perception blocked by the self-imposed blindfold. Open your eyes with a blindfold on and what do you see? The blindfold! With the blindfold in place, we only have "internal reminders" of the things we previously perceived. We stumble around the furnishings because we remember their general shape, size, and likely location. We don't actually see them, but we recall what it is we know about them in order to avoid them. I wonder how many "hazards" in life we merely stumble around, blindfold in place, simply with the use of our "internal reminders" of them being there? The memories we form might give us a perception of the way things "were", but the ability to discern how they "are" now is only possible when the blindfold is removed by the grace of God's work in our lives.

The purpose of the blindfold is to impair the awareness or clear thinking of the one who is wearing it. When we put a blindfold on a child, spin him around, and then send him toward the picture of the donkey on the wall with a little "tail" to pin on it, how does the child respond? It becomes clear that his awareness of his surroundings is altered by the blindfold and his disorientation as to where he 'stopped' when he launched forward to pin the tail. He doesn't think clearly, but blindly walks forward (at least he thinks he is walking forward) and aims at whatever he comes into contact with. The danger is the tail may get "pinned" where it doesn't belong! Awareness or clear thinking are necessary in order to perceive. Until we have clear thinking, the thing we "think" we perceive will be only based on what it is we have formed an internal reminder about in our memory. Vision is the ability to have clear thinking and awareness of the redemptive work Christ is doing and has done in us. The redemptive work began at the moment we welcomed Jesus into our lives as our Savior. The work continues each day until we reach perfection in Christ Jesus. Since none of us are there yet, I believe we need to continually ask him to help us remove the blindfold from our eyes, so we see clearly what he desires to do in every area of our lives. We can stumble around with past memories (internal reminders), or we can get a fresh perceptive. The choice is ours. I think it is time to begin to ask God to remove some of the blindfolds we might have just kept on because we were afraid of the light! Light exposes, but once it does, the internal reminders are free to be understood exactly for what they are - past perceptions which need not influence our present reality! Just sayin!

Perspective AND Preparation

Have you ever found yourself looking the wrong way when something great happens and you totally missed it? I have and it just bums me out when that happens because everyone who actually saw whatever it was proclaim over and over how awesome it was and how terrible it was that I missed it! It wasn't like I missed it on purpose, people! I just had my attention on something else. In today's world of 'rewind' and 'replay' features on almost everything, it is possible to 'go back' to catch what we miss in a video or even on live TV, but in real life those features are seldom at our disposal. You ever find yourself with your attention on 'something else' and wish you had a 'replay' button so you could 'catch up' with the rest of your friends? Ever wish you could just 'rewind' so you wouldn't miss out on all that stuff you wish now you never had missed? I think this is why God always asks us to keep our focus 'forward' - totally focused on him - not looking back - so we don't miss out!

Daily expect the Day of God, eager for its arrival. The galaxies will burn up and the elements melt down that day—but we’ll hardly notice. We’ll be looking the other way, ready for the promised new heavens and the promised new earth, all landscaped with righteousness. (2 Peter 3:11)

Perspective often determines our direction, doesn't it? How we see things in life isn't always a matter of us being right or someone else being wrong - it is where we are in life when the matter comes our way. I live in a flight path for some pretty awesome old planes that fly out of one or two of our local small airparks and whenever I hear those things grinding away above me, I like to run outside to see if I can spot them. The problem is that the noise echoes and I don't always know it they are flying North or South. I have to scan quickly and attempt to figure out the direction of the planes if I am to catch their tight formation and see the wonder of those huge bombers, fighter planes, and cargo planes overhead. Then I have to clear the trees and attempt to catch as much blue sky as I can take in. If I go out into my backyard, that isn't much because I have 3 large trees, but my back fence is lined with even more trees on the opposite side of the fence. My view is limited - my perspective between front yard and backyard is way different!

The front yard view is wide open, with only one large tree blocking my view. While it presents less 'challenges' for viewing the planes, I am not always 'prepared' to be seen out front! My hair may be a mess, I may be in lounge wear, or I have no shoes on and the sidewalks in Arizona get doggone hot in the summer months! Perspective matters, doesn't it? But...preparation also matters! We can have the right perspective, but be unprepared for what it is we are beholding. Whenever we find ourselves unprepared, we can also find ourselves unable to stay focused. Hot sidewalks burning into the soft tissue of my feet deters me from wanting to stand there too long to actually observe those planes. I often 'break off' the viewing because I cannot stand the heat! If we want to be ready at all times, it takes some preparation, doesn't it? I have to actually put shoes on each day - something I really hate to do because I love to just walk around in bare feet in the summer and stocking feet in the winter. I am not a shoe person!

Our preparation is probably as important as our perspective. We can have all the right focus in life, but if we aren't prepared for what is in front of us, we will shy away from whatever lies ahead! We need the preparation that comes from having 'first things first' in our lives - like Jesus, family, and friends. Then we need to add the preparation that comes from getting to know Jesus, family and friends on a more 'intimate' level. Getting to know family may be easier than getting to know Jesus, my friends! Why is that? We have to actually learn to 'live with' him - our families we already live with! We welcome him into our lives and we need to get used to having him around. Then we need to make specific space for him within our lives. We may have a limited perspective of him until we give him more than a place in the corner of our lives, though! He needs full-access - the run of the place, so to speak. In time, we get very familiar with how he moves, what he focuses on, and what his voice sounds like. We even get to know the sounds of his movement without even hearing his voice. We cannot bypass preparation in pursuit of perspective. We need both. Just sayin!

I can see clearly now!

Okay, don't get me wrong, but whenever I hear someone talk about their 'chakra', I get a little creeped out. I am not at all into, nor have I explored, the Eastern religions. The 'spinning wheel' of energy points just doesn't cut it for me. The fact is - my first and only spiritual energy source is God. I have other energy sources such as the food I eat and the sleep I manage to sneak in each night. There are lots and lots of religions out there that proclaim truth - promoting some type of 'wisdom' of the ages. The fact remains - there is but ONE truth, ONE true God, and ONE way into his presence. If I want more light or illumination in my life - I turn to the one who made it!

There's nothing better than being wise, knowing how to interpret the meaning of life. Wisdom puts light in the eyes, and gives gentleness to words and manners. (Ecclesiastes 8:1)

There are books upon books written about finding "meaning in life". Some are clearly just reporting ways we might improve our "self-image" or engage in positive "self-talk" that will bring some type of "meaning" into our life. The opportunities to consider what brings "meaning" into one's life vary as much as the quantity of books on the bookshelves of our "self help" sections of the local bookstore or library. There are lots of opportunities - but as our scripture points out - God's wisdom is the best.

Wisdom gives us perspective - it gives us a vantage point from which to view life in such a way that we make our choices for action based on the "view" we have attained. Let me break that down. If we view a troubling circumstance such as an unanticipated debt from the vantage point of fear, we will panic at the possibility of damaging our credit or not being able to pay it off. If we view that same unexpected debt from the vantage point of faith, we might ask for help from the one we owe the debt to structure manageable payments over a longer period of time in order that we might pay the debt without fear of losing our good credit standing.

A "vantage" point is simply that which gives us a view that we might call "the 10,000 foot view". In other words, we see things from a bigger perspective than just the thing immediately in front of us. We often hear this referred to as the "big picture" view of a situation. Our vantage point determines our perspective. If we allow wisdom to become the basis by which we make choices in life, we will have a better vantage point than if we live by impulse or "whatever feels good" mentality.

Wisdom puts light in the eyes. Wherever we direct our focus, we will find that object is reflected in our eyes. That is why the Word reminds us that the eyes are windows to our soul. If our focus is on Jesus, the eyes will reflect the possibilities of faith. If our focus is on self, the eyes often reflect the hopelessness of self-effort. Perspective is determined by our vantage point - at best, self will struggle to accomplish the same thing that faith can accomplish by simply trusting. Wisdom also gives gentleness to words. Words are often a solid indicator of our focus or perspective at the moment. Having a gentleness to our words is an outcome of having a right perspective in life. Harsh words, or words that focus on the problem instead of the possibilities, are often based on being "internally focused" in life. We only see things from our vantage point, not the vantage point of another - and certainly not the vantage point of Christ. Therefore, words are reflective of what is best for us, what elevates us, what makes us look or fell good. They are often far from gentle (kind and loving).  

Wisdom gives us gentle manners. Manners is just another way of referring to behavior. Wisdom affects our behavior. Our vantage point determines our choices - if we have a "big picture view", we often make different choices in life.

Wisdom is really all about perspective - where we place our hope, what it is that we trust in, and how we either embrace or reject input into our lives. If our perspective is in Christ, our vantage point will always give us the best insight that will ultimately produce/result in the best for our lives. If we think we have a "good" vantage point and then end up being overtaken by our enemy, we really did not have much of a "vantage" point in the first place! We need the benefit of a "solid vantage point" in life. There is no other vantage point better that we will find than when our focus is solidly on Christ. Just sayin!

Can you take a few pricks?

12 I don’t mean that I am exactly what God wants me to be. I have not yet reached that goal. But I continue trying to reach it and make it mine. That’s what Christ Jesus wants me to do. It is the reason he made me his. 13 Brothers and sisters, I know that I still have a long way to go. But there is one thing I do: I forget what is in the past and try as hard as I can to reach the goal before me. 14 I keep running hard toward the finish line to get the prize that is mine because God has called me through Christ Jesus to life up there in heaven. (Philippians 3:12-14 ERV)

I have heard it said, "Some people are always grumbling because roses have thorns; I am thankful that thorns have roses." (Alphonse Karr)  Tough question for your today: Are you a thorn or rose person? Is your focus on the toughness of life, or are you able to see the beauty in even the hard places? Believe me, the latter is harder, but when we get our focus away from the thorn that has been pricking at us, it is then we begin to appreciate the beauty of the rose's soft petals, richness of the aroma of the opening bloom, and the supreme magnificence of the bloom's deep colors displayed in mornings dawning light.

All of us will have thorns sticking at us from time to time. Sometimes we don't think we can escape their prickling effect, but let me assure you of this, the thorns won't impact the beauty of the rose. The rose will still be displayed in all the splendor of the rose. The thorns might give us a little challenge in discovering how to best enjoy the beauty of the rose, but they don't have to stop us from enjoying it! A prickly thorn bush doesn't have much beauty, but the rose bush produces magnificent beauty amidst the thorns!

For years and years, mom played every sweepstakes that came to her in the mail. You know the thought behind it, don't you? If I buy a little of their product, maybe I will win the prize. It is surprising to me how many times we think we have to "buy into" something in order to enjoy the prize. You know how many times she won? None. Yet the thorns of buying into their gimmicks didn't deter her from trying to win that "big prize". Amazing how it is we can overlook the "thorns" of some things and then get so hung up about them when it comes to other things, isn't it?

There is a college locally with a huge rose garden out front. I have more joy in looking upon their roses than I do trying to produce them in my own yard. For some reason, they grow well there and not so well in my garden. I don't even have to deal with the thorns to enjoy them, but I do have to position myself in the right place in order to enjoy them. In other words, I have to get up from where I am and move toward that garden. In most of our days, we are either taking steps toward or away from something. When movement ceases all together, we stagnate. We neither enjoy the roses, nor do we experience the thorns.

Some may feel that is the way to exist, but I'd rather think the best plan is to move toward what is going to bring deep satisfaction in life. In order to do so, it means we change our perspective a little. We choose to ignore the few thorns along the way and take in the richness and beauty of the roses that emerge when we get near enough to actually take in that beauty. Roses aren't fully appreciated until you take in their full beauty - and that requires nearness to their lush blooms. The thorns may prevent some from ever getting near enough to enjoy them, but how about you? Just askin!

A lesson from a barren tree

Did you ever stop to consider how big or how little a situation actually looks depending how close or far removed you are to it? Be up close and personal with the issue and you might see only parts and pieces of it, while missing the bigger picture. Be a little further away and you might miss the detail. At surface level, much may be appreciated, but rise a little further above the issue and you often see much, much more, but not as much as you see until you gain God's perspective on the situation!

17 We have small troubles for a while now, but these troubles are helping us gain an eternal glory. That eternal glory is much greater than our troubles. 18 So we think about what we cannot see, not what we see. What we see lasts only a short time, and what we cannot see will last forever. (2 Corinthians 4:17-18 ERV)

This summer I took a few days in the high mountains of Arizona to just enjoy time with my grand boys and a second trip to enjoy some time with my BFF. On my trip up with boys, I spotted a very old, gnarled tree that had lost all the leaves, bark, and any signs of growth. At the very top of the tree, the broken space of the highest branches became the nesting spot of a great bald eagle. High atop the tree a nest was formed from fallen branches and pieces of deep wood undergrowth. Atop the nest, an eagle stood watch over the vast expanse of the forest. It made me think about a couple of things:

1. The places we might think are the most barren and not likely to serve much of a purpose often can become the place where we find our greatest perspective. We don't often find the eagle nesting among the hidden places of the tall tree's branches like you find the nests of the sparrows or finches. In fact, the eagle finds the highest perch and is often quite exposed in where it nests, but it also have the greatest vantage point from which to watch for threats. Sometimes the barrenness doesn't seem to have produced much in us, but it may just have given us the vantage point to observe for the threats that come our way in life.

2. The most unlikely things can become the greatest blessings in our life, when we see them from God's perspective. That tree didn't seem to serve any purpose any longer for much of the wildlife in the forest. The lack of leaves and small branches didn't make it much shelter from the storms that come or the hot heat of the afternoon sun blazing down upon it. It no longer produced pine cones or seeds for the squirrels to find sustenance in. Yet, it did still have purpose - as the nesting place for the great eagle. We might have to look a little closer at what we discount in life, for it could just be what we discount as "worthless" or "barren" is really the very thing that changes our perspective in life, making us more aware of our surroundings and brings us insight we didn't possess before.

3. Lastly, the nesting spot was at the very highest point in the tree. It was as close to God as that eagle could nest - some of us need to "nest" a little closer to God - maybe it will be at the place of the least amount of "visible growth" in our lives that we come to the place of our greatest nearness to him. Just sayin! 

Oh, what a view!

Many of us have probably ridden a bike at one time or another. Isn't there a vast difference between coasting and peddling? Think of the last time you road uphill - how much more energy did you have to exert to actually get up that hill? If you are out of shape, you'd probably say it was horrendously hard! You found yourself huffing and puffing, holding onto your side which was splitting from the intense cramp you developed, and you knew for sure you'd "feel that one in the morning". Arnold Bennett was an English novelist and his opinion was that hills were meant for climbing, not coasting. Why? The best view was from the top!

It shall come to pass in the latter days that the mountain of the house of the Lord shall be established as the highest of the mountains, and it shall be lifted up above the hills; and peoples shall flow to it, and many nations shall come, and say: “Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob, that he may teach us his ways and that we may walk in his paths.” For out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. (Micah 4:1-2 ESV)

We might just have to admit our view is determined most by whether we are settling for coasting, or putting forth the effort to actually climb the hill. I know the climb is harder, but I agree with Bennett - the view is the most spectacular at the top of the summit! Recently I had the opportunity to take my grandsons up into the mountains of Arizona. As we made a very subtle ascent into the mountains, the elevation changes were not all that evident. We had mountains all around us obstructing our actual view of the significant climb we were making. It is like the old adage - not seeing the forest for the trees. About five minutes from the top of the range, I pointed out a huge ridge of rocks that formed an awesome lookout point just ahead of us - a place that put into perspective the significance of the climb. Oftentimes we don't think we will ever reach the place of perspective, but when we do, what an awesome place that is!

My SUV was loaded down with all the gear and food we'd need for our five day adventure, plus the five of us. It was working quite hard at times to make that 7600 foot climb through the windy roads, but when we finally made it - awesome! The break in the trees gave way to the splendor of the lush valleys below - laid out like a tapestry of various shades of green, red, and tan. I wonder if he noticed there were still higher peaks off in the distance, or that not all the distance we had traveled was within our view? There are times when we think we will see all things clearly just because we reach some point in our climb, but when we get to the top, we actually see points higher than we have achieved! We don't always see the places from where we have come, or the significant distance we have traveled.

The ability to just "coast" isn't really realized until we have made the climb! That descent from the higher ground is what gives us the "push" that allows us to coast - we stop working so hard for just a little bit, but it isn't because we will be able to do that for long - there will be another uphill climb soon! We need the "summit" experiences to help us get perspective and then to encourage us to use our newly found strength to mount the climb to the next peak! There will always be another climb ahead - we never really get to stay at the summit in life. We need to be prepared to move on when it is time and then to mount the next climb just as we did the present one. Maybe we take something of a new perspective with us as we do, but we climb because the view is always best at the top! Just sayin!

Turning again?

Have you ever seen a little sign posted somewhere and it just spoke to you?  One such sign read: "If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change." (Wayne Dyer)  I don't usually get into many of these "self-help" messages, but I kind of like this one because it speaks about perspective and perception.  We can have one perspective in life and see things completely different from the person sitting across from us at the dinner table tonight.  We are in the same room, breathing the same air, but seeing things in life quite uniquely.   I honestly believe this is how arguments ensue - one person seeing things from a totally different perspective than the other, never the two to meet, so to speak.  One takes their perception of the issue simply because of the perspective they have maintained.  To change one's perception of the issue at hand, one must first change his perspective!

Turn to me and receive my gentle correction; watch and I will pour out my spirit on you; I will share with you my wise words in order to redirect your lives. (Proverbs 1:23 VOICE)

Throughout scripture, this concept of "turning" is frequently illustrative of such principles as repentance, renewal, and restoration.  This suggests to me the essence of each of these is really a change in perspective - a change in position, so to speak, which influences how it is we will see things, deal with them, and be able to move beyond them.  If you ever owned one of those multi-colored blocks known as a Rubik's Cube, you know what I am about to say is true.  No matter how many times you change your view of the object or issue in front of you, until you begin to change the actual "perspective" of it there is no change which brings you closer to the "solution" you are desiring to achieve.  You have to move those spinning parts of the cube to actually get alignment of the colors.  Just spinning the block itself doesn't change it!

Turning (changing perspective) actually involves embracing something new (receiving).  We don't move toward a solution in life until we are willing to put forth some action on our part.  For the couple sitting at the dinner table, to appreciate each other's perspective of what they are seeing, one has to get up, move to the other person's side of the table, and then sit as closely to that person as possible.  To change one's perspective, one has to move a little!  Yet the one who moved may not fully see what the other sees because they are not "exactly" seeing things from the other person's perspective. To do so, one must be totally and completely in the same position, but even that doesn't assure perceiving exactly the same.  Why?  What we see is "colored" by our past experiences and learning.  This may be why we struggle so much with trusting God on occasion - we don't have his exact perspective, so we find it difficult to trust him fully.  In those moments, the best we can do is draw as close as possible, then appreciate what is before us, prepared by him for our journey in life.  

We often don't need a "new beginning" as much as we just need to turn around from where we are in order to begin to see things in a totally different light.  Just sayin!

Living with more than cast-offs

I have been asked if I was really "serious" about something on occasion - usually because I am a little bit of a joker and like to have a little bit of fun with life.  So when someone asks me if I am serious about a matter, they are really trying to figure out if I am trifling around with them.  When I am serious about a matter, you usually can tell it, though.  My focus changes from that of making light about a matter to being quite concentrated on the matter at hand producing whatever outcome we desire to see.  It is this change in focus that clues another into the "seriousness" of the matter and the desire to have my actions (and theirs) align with the desired outcome.  The same is true in our walk with Jesus - we can "trifle" around a little with it, or we can be "serious" about our focus.  Either way, our focus will be determined by the way we are treating this pursuit - if seriously, then the outcome will surely differ than if we are only half-hearted!

So if you’re serious about living this new resurrection life with Christ, act like it. Pursue the things over which Christ presides. Don’t shuffle along, eyes to the ground, absorbed with the things right in front of you. Look up, and be alert to what is going on around Christ—that’s where the action is. See things from his perspective. Your old life is dead. Your new life, which is your real life—even though invisible to spectators—is with Christ in God. He is your life. When Christ (your real life, remember) shows up again on this earth, you’ll show up, too—the real you, the glorious you. Meanwhile, be content with obscurity, like Christ. (Colossians 3:1-4 MSG)

If we are serious about living as though we have been resurrected into new life with Christ, our actions should reveal it.  How do we reflect this "seriousness"? It is in the way we "pursue" things over which Christ presides.  In our lives, Christ is invited to preside over our minds, hearts, and will.  In turn, we are called to pursue the things of righteousness which he produces within.  We get consumed with the things right in our immediate focus and forget there is a bigger picture we are to behold.  Whenever this happens, our perspective becomes pretty limited and the actions produced by limited focus will always fall short of the actions produced when you can apprehend the bigger picture.

As a kid, I had a tendency to look down as I walked.  I would scour the ground before me for some "secret find".  It may have been a cast away penny, or perhaps a recently discarded soda bottle for which I could claim the deposit money at the local grocer.  In essence, my focus was pretty limited because I did not see things around me, just the things at my feet.  I did find an occasional "good find", like the time I came across a twenty dollar bill, but in general the stuff I "claimed" in my constant quest to look downward was simply just "cast away" stuff.  Now, this may not seem like much of a revelation to you, but when we think about either living with what others have discarded or discovering something totally afresh and new, it does make a difference!

As I have grown, I have developed a focus far different than when I was a kid. In fact, people often comment to me "how did you see that" when I acknowledge I saw a ceiling tile askew, a wallboard broken through, or a new picture added to the walls as I traverse the hallways of our hospital.  I look up, around, and down - I have changed my perspective.  My "intake" of things around me changed when I changed my perspective.  The same is true in our spiritual walk - when we change our perspective of focus, our intake changes. We can go through life so "inwardly" focused, tightly holding our focus on how things will immediately affect us, or what is right in front of us, that we miss out on the things God has prepared for us just up ahead.   

Whenever our focus is too limited, we find ourselves losing momentum.  When all we can see is the immediacy of a matter, we don't hold out for the end.  We want it to be over as quickly as possible - to see the outcome sometimes long before it was ready to be produced.  The things God presides over in our lives are not usually produced with immediacy - they are cultivated.  It is like a good steak - you allow it to sear a little on the grill, but just because the outside looks like it is done doesn't mean the inside is ready for the eating!  We could give into the immediate impression of what we see, but we would be eating close to raw meat!  

Just like the steak on the grill, what is taking place on the inside matters.  We might think we are ready to move onto the next step in our lives, but if we need more time to have the inside affected as totally as the outside has been, we won't be happy if we just settle or our limited perspective of the outside.  God is at work on the inside.  He is presiding over our hearts to bring balance to our emotions and commitment to our purpose.  He is presiding over our minds to give integrity to our thoughts and see actions produced which are consistent and reliable.  He is presiding over our will to reduce the variability of outcomes which are produced through either the stubbornness of our own wants and wishes or the disillusionment of pursuits way ahead of their time.

If we want to live as Christ desires, we need to determine if we are serious about our perspective.  Perspective is beyond the immediate - it takes in the whole thing and helps us to form a "life picture" which differs a great deal from what we see when all we are considering is what life has laid at our feet.  Just sayin!

Feeling a little "cluttered" lately?

If you have ever stopped to consider things long enough to actually get a clear perspective on things, you will probably realize there is that moment in time when you finally realize the reality of something - it comes as one of those "AHA!" experiences.  For the first time, you see things as they are - you really understand them.  In our spiritual lives, this happens, too.  We get to the place where we finally have that "AHA!" moment and then we sit and revel in what it is we finally see so clearly.  What happened to get us to this point? Simply put, we got enough of God into the places in our heart and mind where we had all the muddle previously!  As he got into those places, he sorted out the muddle and let us see him and our circumstances in clarity!

Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.  (Matthew 5:8 NIV)

You’re blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.  (Matthew 5:8 MSG)

What kept us from seeing clearly in the first place?  Wasn't it the condition of our heart and mind?  We get too much "clutter" in there, listening to all the rattling the clutter causes, and then we lose perspective.  If you get to know me, you will realize I "retreat" when this "clutter" gets a little too loud.  I have to get away to "settle" the clutter - sorting things out.  It may not take me long - sometimes only a matter of minutes - but when I recenter my attention on Christ, allowing him to get past the clutter inside my mind and heart, I begin to realize the true perspective of the things which are causing all this "rattling".  There is much to be said about allowing God to get inside where it is we have all this "clutter" - but most importantly, we need to recognize he is the only one who can actually see ABOVE all the clutter!  So, settling comes when we allow someone with a better perspective than we possess to actually get INSIDE our world and take us OUTSIDE of our clutter.

There are a lot of things which really cause a lot of clutter inside our minds and hearts.  The top two which come to mind first are the things which make us anxious and the things which we see as necessary to somehow allow our ambitions to be realized.  Actually, these are closely related - for one feeds into the other.  Anxiety causes unnecessary "clutter" and a whole lot of "racket" in our minds.  Racket is anything which causes a disturbance - especially of the kind which brings confusion.  If you have ever been in a large room with a lot of people and activity galore, you probably have been on sensory overload at some point.  All the racket created by the constant chatter of those individuals and the noise created by the tasks they are performing just puts your senses on overload.  Ignore the "alert" of being on overload, and you will burn a fuse!  We are not made to handle sensory overload for long periods of time - we need to get the racket under control or we will fry!

Our ambitions can also give us some cause for concern only because they drive us forward when we might just need to be still and rest for a while. There is nothing wrong with ambition, but when it consumes us, it becomes something which creates unnecessary clutter and racket in our lives!  Goals are good - without them we drift around aimlessly.  Unrealistic goals - those which another places upon us, but for which we have absolutely no real personal desire to fulfill can cause us great anxiety.  We need to guard against anyone "defining" our goals / ambitions for us besides God himself. He knows what we can handle, what will ignite our passion, and the correct timing for that passion to be stoked.  Sometimes we just need to settle down long enough to evaluate if our ambitions are really the ones God designed for us and designed us for!

If you have ever been consumed by the clutter, you know you no longer look to God to meet your needs.  It isn't because you don't realize you should do this, but because you somehow think you already possess something within the clutter which will meet the need.  Clutter has a way of confusing the issues and making us see things without clear perspective.  When we take time to settle down the racket, allowing God to clean out the clutter, and then get a fresh perspective, we begin to see what it is God designed for us and what he has designed us for.  This issue of a "pure heart" goes way beyond just confessing our sins.  It involves allowing God to be the center of our attention, and dare I say, the "keeper of the clutter".  When we finally give him the clutter to deal with, it is amazing how the things we thought we needed and the noise they created are soon revealed as totally unnecessary in our lives!  Just sayin!

No "perfect package" here!

All together - a term used to indicate someone has a "complete package" as it comes to talents, treasures, looks, ability, etc.  For most of us, we give a good impression of having it "all together", but in reality, it takes a whole lot of duct tape and bailing wire to keep it that way!  I think it takes a whole lot of work and emotional effort to live that way.  In fact, I had decided a long time ago the "all together" / "complete package" just didn't "fit" who I wanted to be in this life.  It took a while to get to the point of not being afraid to let others know where my edges were a little frayed and my hems not all even! Yet, in the willingness to "get real" with others, there has been a liberty like no other.  Truth be told, the ability to be real with others only came when I realized others aren't "spurred on" in this race toward Christ by the "perfect package" they see.  In fact, the perfect package kind of intimidated them!  It overwhelmed them - almost making them cower away in fear because the "perfect package" piece seemed just too hard to lay hold of.

I’m not saying that I have this all together, that I have it made. But I am well on my way, reaching out for Christ, who has so wondrously reached out for me. Friends, don’t get me wrong: By no means do I count myself an expert in all of this, but I’ve got my eye on the goal, where God is beckoning us onward—to Jesus. I’m off and running, and I’m not turning back.  (Philippians 3:12-14 MSG)

More than enough time has gone into "appearing" one way and "acting" another.  It no longer matters that I be the "complete package" because I realize we are all in this together - no one really stands out as the "subject-matter-expert" here.  We all require someone to reach out and to draw us along at times.  None of us is above tiring.  None is above quitting.  When we feel this way, we need the hand of another to pull us on and to be the voice of encouragement we need to so desperately hear.

What brought me to this point in life?  Simply put, I recognized I needed what others offered, but they wouldn't offer because I was so unapproachable.  As long as I remained as a "perfect package", no one even wanted to approach me, much less really be an encouragement in my life! What I had to realize is the similarities we all have in this walk - we all need a little hand-holding now and again!  So, Christ reaches out to us through another, spurring us on. Some might struggle with this whole "hand-holding" idea, but in reality, we need it more than we often realize.

In the next passage within this same chapter, Paul tells us we need to keep focused.  Focus is not only a personal thing, but it is also a community thing. We often don't see what is right in front of us.  My pastor puts it this way: "The eye cannot see the eye".  In other words, we need others to see the splinter in our eye!  Focus is impacted by the splinter we cannot see around! When we want refined focus - wee need others to help us refine it.  God gave us these individuals so we might get perspective through a different set of eyes.  

If you don't realize the benefit of a different set of eyes on a circumstance, consider the last time you needed assistance to get the most out of your tax return, or to find the one loose wire under the hood of your car that kept it from running right.  I could have read all kinds of self-help books until I finally figured it out on my own, but the tax accountant knows more of the law around the tax code than I could ever hope to learn through one of the self-directed manuals.  The mechanic actually knows what wires make my car do the crazy things cars do.  I need them to give me perspective at times.  You are no different.  The different vantage point of another is often the one vantage point we don't consider ourselves when faced with the challenges in our character, choices, or circumstances.

All God ever asks of us is to get running.  He takes care of the rest.  He beckons us onward.  He prepares the path.  We need the encouragement of a few "coaches" along the way, don't we?  Even the best prepared athlete did not get their on their own.  They needed the benefit of others showing them how it is done.  Don't be afraid to "get real" with another.  Being a little too "perfect" in your "package" is not going to endear you to anyone.  Being willing to be "real" is what connects you to another.  Just sayin!

Past invading your Present?

Someone once told me the enemy of the present is our past.  In other words, we fight battles with our past more frequently than we fight battles with our present - but we do it in the "space" our present is suppose to occupy!  Chew on this one a little.  Our "present" has a purpose, but we occupy it with the things from our "past" which still gnaw at us.  I wonder just how much of the present we miss because we are so focused on the past?  The only thing changeable is the present - the past is forever just that - past.  Why then do we spend so much time focusing on it?  

Now God, don’t hold out on me, don’t hold back your passion.  Your love and truth are all that keeps me together.  When troubles ganged up on me, a mob of sins past counting, I was so swamped by guilt I couldn’t see my way clear. More guilt in my heart than hair on my head, so heavy the guilt that my heart gave out.  (Psalm 40:11-12 MSG)

There are many reasons we are drawn into focusing on the past so frequently.  Probably the most common is the familiarity we have with our past – it is an easy place to drift into because it had been a former “routine” for us.  We hope by focusing on the past, we might just find something worthwhile there which can "benefit" our present.  The only issue with this is the fact most of what is in our past really brings us to the point of being overwhelmed in our present - because the past worries and sins coupled with the present worries and sins will give us way too much to deal with!  Don't get me wrong - there are indeed benefits to dealing with some of the stuff in our past - like letting go of addictions.  Yet, most of what is in our past only produces greater amounts of guilt when we bring those things into our present.

Here's something we need to get our hands around - the problems of yesterday were "created" on a different "level" from where we are today. Trying to relate to them today will likely bring them into focus in a different light.  This is how we deal with the past - we bring the things which trouble us from our past into a different light - a different "level" of maturity.  We don't try to deal with those things with the same "level" of maturity - we'd be frustrated if we did.  This might just be why we continue to deal with the same old stuff over and over again - we never grow, never reach a new "level".

So, how do we get past this level of immaturity which keeps us focused on the past, but without the "resources" to deal successfully with the stuff which needs to be finally and firmly put into the past and left there?  There are probably a couple of things we have to realize:

1.  God is the best one to help us identify what belongs truly in our past and what has a value or lesson for our present.  When we don't take those things from our past to him to see if there is any relationship to our present, we miss out on this important piece.  There are things from our past which God uses to improve our present and set us up for success in our future.  Breaking bondage to a certain habit is a good example of this.  The habit began in the past, built in the past, and is ever-present in the here and now.  When God begins to help us identify what lead us into the place of bondage to that life-controlling habit, we begin to let go of those things in our past, focusing on the possibilities in our present, and setting our focus right.

2.  God has given us the resources TODAY to deal with what we did not deal with well in the PAST.  Today's resources are based on things like our attentiveness to learning from the Word.  As we live in the present, taking the Word we receive today, applying it to today's challenges, yesterday's worries and challenges may actually take on a different light.  We are beginning to see them from a different "level".  Our perspective changes when we focus on today and allow yesterday to no longer define us.  When we allow God to take what he gives us today to the point of changing who we are today, we cannot help but see how he puts the stuff of our past into a "right perspective", as well.

3.  God wants to be our focus.  Whenever we focus on the impossibilities of our past, we exclude him from our focus.  We almost make our past our master instead of God.  As long as we keep God in the center of our present, he will put our past into perspective.  When we allow our past to master us, it makes it almost impossible for us to connect to the grace of God he extends to us.  Grace is unmerited favor - we get what we don't deserve.  Oftentimes, we let go of the past by embracing the grace we didn't deserve, but which was extended to us in his love.  We have a great deal of difficulty with this one as long as we want to bring the past into our present - because God puts the past into the past - his focus is not on what we've done, but on what we are doing.  He gives us grace sufficient to "deal" with our past - but it is silly for us to keep seeking grace for what he has already declared to be "erased".  

One word before we close today - changing our today doesn't always mean we have to change our yesterday.  We allow yesterday to be put into right perspective - grace erasing what we could not.  We are limited by what we focus on in our past - it affects who we are.  God's hope for us is to live in the present, disallowing the "limitations" of our past to affect our present.  We will always be limited by our past - but we can live in limitless grace and hope as long as we keep our focus clearly in the present.  Just sayin!

Affecting or Infecting?

If you have ever struggled with a little negativity in your own life - such as just not being able to see the forest for the trees - you probably will get what I am going to talk about today.  Life choices are based on what we evaluate to be either "negative" or "positive" for our lives.  We try to avoid the negative and move toward what we consider to be positive.  The time it takes to avoid one and move toward another is really what gives us the most problems, isn't it?  One of the things we have to keep in mind is the "ease" at which the negative stuff comes into our lives.  It is like this ever-present gift that just keeps on giving!  On the other hand, the positive stuff takes a little longer, might seem a little hard to get our hands around, and sometimes even seems to evade us!

Summing it all up, friends, I’d say you’ll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse. Put into practice what you learned from me, what you heard and saw and realized. Do that, and God, who makes everything work together, will work you into his most excellent harmonies.  (Philippians 4:8-9 MSG)

First things first - our words often reveal the course of our minds and influence the environment into which we take steps forward, backward, or none at all. Maybe this is why Paul focused on filling our minds with things which mattered the most.  If we look at the list, these are not the things which come naturally to us.  They are pursued on purpose.  Negative stuff comes our way because it naturally exists in our environment.  People gravitate toward negativity when they don't understand stuff.  They get negative about others when they might not want anyone to focus on them.  There is just something "natural" about negativity.  On the other hand, these things Paul tells us to fill our minds with are not "natural" - they take some work.  Yet, if we focus on these, we find our view of life turns a lot more positive, even when negative stuff seems to surround us.

Next, if we have been embracing the negativity around us, it is time to let it go.  How?  Probably one of the simplest ways to let something go is to move toward it in forgiveness.  Simple?  Yeah right!  Forgiveness is not all that simple, is it?  Nope - it is purposeful, costs us something, and sometimes takes us out of our comfort zone.  Look again at what I said - we move away from negativity and toward the positive in the actions of forgiveness. Forgiveness has some pretty specific actions - things like letting go of the debt you feel another "owes" you, not holding onto what you think you have a right to, etc.  The more we engage in these types of actions of forgiveness, the easier it is for us to move away from the negative and toward the positive.  As we move in forgiveness, the things which held our attention and demanded so much of our energies in the negative realm no longer hold the same power over us.  Those energies are free to be refocused - we have more to invest in the positive, making the positive more attainable than it was when we held onto the negative.

If you don't think your relationships are important in this battle between embracing the positive and releasing the negative, think again.  They matter big time!  The more we hang around with negative people, bent on skewing our perception of life toward the negative, the more we become rooted in never taking steps to get out of negativity.  Negative people affect other people - maybe even "infect" them.  Staying rooted in that type of soil will certainly turn the "fruit" on your vine very "acidic"!  Good fruit only comes when we are in good soil - if your fruit seems a little acidic - you might just consider where you are planted!

Most important of all - keep your perspective.  A word on perspective - the best perspective is established from the best vantage point.  The best vantage point is next to the heart of Christ.  This said, the best way to step away from the negative and toward the positive is to nuzzle up really, really close to the heart of Jesus.  How?  This IS the simple part - for it takes only a word to him to be drawn near.  What we don't realize is he accomplishes the work of coming near - he gives the access - we just have to ask and then be drawn in.  We make this "closeness" with Jesus such a hard thing - thinking it is done only on our knees, in a quiet room, with lots and lots of focus on "getting close to Jesus".  Come on!  Although these experiences are good for us in order to develop closeness with Jesus, we meet up with Jesus many different ways and in all sorts of places.  One of the places I hear from him and release stuff to him is in the drive between home and work, or work and home.  I am alone - except for the hundreds of other drivers on the road!  I get to talk to him about whatever I want - and he talks to me about whatever I need!

There isn't much we can do about the negativity around us - except keeping the perspective which will help us to avoid being sucked in.  If you have been sucked in already, it is not too late.  Get a change of perspective by drawing close to Christ, allowing him to direct you toward forgiveness, and then let your mind be healed.  Your energies will be renewed as you do - and your change in perspective might just be what the environment you are in needs, as well!  Just sayin!

You are here...

Have you ever lost something?  You know, you put it away so carefully, but when you need it, it is nowhere to be found?  You go all out to uncover every hiding place, don't you?  You even look places you could not imagine yourself putting something, but just in case, you look anyway!  It is a good thing wisdom is not something we have to squirrel away - keeping it tucked away from intruders or interlopers who would like nothing more than to strip us of it.  Wisdom is something we amass because we take the knowledge we have been given and then apply it to our lives.  That which is applied cannot be quickly taken away - for in its application, it becomes part of who we are, not just part of what we possess.

Joyful is the person who finds wisdom, the one who gains understanding. For wisdom is more profitable than silver, and her wages are better than gold.  (Proverbs 3:13-14 NLT)

I'd like to think wisdom comes more because of the condition of the heart than the mind.  It is not in the "smarts" we have, but in the "hearing" of our heart where wisdom becomes part of who and what we are.  You may have heard it said, "Knowledge is power".  I think the opposite is true - knowledge only opens the door to learning - once it is applied it brings wisdom, and wisdom makes us powerful beyond measure.  I "know" a lot about how various things work, but it doesn't mean I could build those things from scratch!  I have never applied the knowledge - therefore, all I possess is a little bit of knowledge - not the power to see something created by that knowledge. If I allow God to take the "knowledge" of his scriptures which I "know" in my mind and begin to help me apply what I know to what it is I am doing, I am moving from just having knowledge to learning how to have it affect who I am, what I am doing, and how I am doing it.

I would like to think wisdom is finally getting God's perspective on a matter. All the knowledge we can amass is really our perspective.  Taking what we know and asking God to help us apply it to our live's problems is where knowledge crosses over to wisdom.  We are seeing the problem from a totally new perspective - God's.  Since none of us is capable of seeing the future, we need God to help us apply the right knowledge to today's problems.  As we allow him to do this in us, we are prepared for the events of tomorrow.  When we just amass knowledge, we never really know how to use it when the moments matter.  Getting God's perspective today by allowing him to prepare us in this moment helps us develop the perspective we will need for the moments our future holds in store for us.  

If you have not tried this, maybe it would help you with this lesson.  Put your hands up beside your eyes - kind of cupping them around your eyes so as to cut off your peripheral vision.  What you have just done is essentially create tunnel vision.  You see what is straight ahead of you - but you neglect to see the things which make up the periphery of your present position.  Sure, you could turn your head right or left, but you still don't see everything which remains in your periphery, nor what lies behind.  You have limited input, therefore, you have limited knowledge.  For knowledge to be "full" or "complete", you need to gain the "full perspective".  There is but one source for gaining this perspective - God.  

We have been given a great deal of truth in his Word.  Truth only becomes valuable when it is applied - when we take what we hear and hang out hat on it.  If we are told the chair is sturdy, but never test its sturdiness, when we need it, will we really trust it?  God's goal is for us to gain the truth, but also to test it out!  Oftentimes, the Word actually helps us understand where we are.  It gives us a reference point much like those maps in the mall where you see the bright red arrow indicating "you are here".  As we stand before the map, we gain perspective.  We study it until we are confident we can move on to our next destination.  What the map does is define our perspective - it gives us a reference point by which we know we are headed in the correct direction.  Simply put, so does God's Word.  It gives us a reference point by which we not only know where we are, but it helps define where it is we are to be headed.  

One of the hardest things to really get our hands around is the concept of taking what we know and applying it to what we have before us.  Before we take a step, we evaluate the reference points we have in our perspective, allowing God to refine our perspective and "righting" our direction so we end up a the destination we desire.  Some call this obedience - taking time to "read the map" before taking steps to find the destination.  Wisdom involves obedience - taking what we know and applying it to where we find ourselves. In time, we come to realize what we believe to be true, especially if the knowledge we are applying is God's truth contained in his Word.

Some think wisdom comes with time.  I wish to correct this perspective - for no real wisdom comes from looking intently at the map, seeing the red "you are here" marker.  Wisdom comes when you take what you see on the map to heart - allowing the map to guide your steps to your next destination.  Just sayin!

Got any chronic complainers in your circle?

Do you know any chronic complainers?  You know the type - there is nothing right with the world, the soup is too runny, the room too hot, the driver in front doesn't know how to drive.  You could say the glass is half full - they'd see it as half empty and with no hope of ever being filled again!  Complainers live in a world all their own and feed off the misery of others to keep their complaints alive and thriving.  I kind of think Moses may have encountered just a few of these chronic complainers as Israel was wandering around the desert for 40 years.  There were those who wanted meat, not manna.  Others wanted fresh water without having to exert much effort, while others had no idea what they wanted!  Some could not be content no matter what you did for them.  Notice I said "could not be content", not "would not be content". For the chronic complainer, it is a matter of will, not of provision!  

Remember our history, friends, and be warned. All our ancestors were led by the providential Cloud and taken miraculously through the Sea... They all ate and drank identical food and drink, meals provided daily by God... But just experiencing God’s wonder and grace didn’t seem to mean much—most of them were defeated by temptation during the hard times in the desert, and God was not pleased.  The same thing could happen to us. We must be on guard so that we never get caught up in wanting our own way as they did.... We must never try to get Christ to serve us instead of us serving him; they tried it, and God launched an epidemic of poisonous snakes. We must be careful not to stir up discontent; discontent destroyed them.  (Excerpts from I Corinthians 10:1-10 MSG)

One thing is for certain in this life - you cannot see things from a negative viewpoint forever and expect to ever achieve positive results.  It isn't like it was in algebra class - two negatives do not achieve a positive result in real life!  How we view life often determines if we can ever get a "positive" out of a "negative" circumstance.  The chronic complainers may be good at pointing out the problems, but they are terrible at ever coming up with the solutions. Their vantage point just doesn't afford them the opportunity to think outside of the "negative" box.  

Did you ever stop to consider those around you in the "problem-solving" you have to engage in today?  The ones you surround yourself with may make all the difference in whether you find greater problems or actually begin to chip away at the solution.  God gives us problems, not to defeat us, but so we can engage with each other on the solutions.  It is this "engagement" process which actually helps us to grow - for we learn to see life from different perspectives and not just through our own viewpoint.  The disciples didn't go out one by one - they went out in "teams" because there was something powerful in being "partnered" with someone to assist in getting the work done.

Chronic complainers have one thing in common - they are "impossibility" thinkers.  Problem-solvers have just the opposite in common - they are "possibility" thinkers.  If you didn't realize this yet, we all work off of each other's reactions, perceptions, and thought processes.  Your reactions to the problem can affect my reactions to it.  Your perception of the root causes can influence where I go to look for the root causes.  Your thought processes, when shared with me, become influential in either confirming or challenging my own thought processes.  

Here is something I have come to realize - chronic complainers are often trying to get others to engage in some form of conflict.  They aren't happy until others are affected by the conflict.  If we recognize this up front, we might just be a little less likely to engage in their totally warped way of thinking!  It is easy to get "sucked into" the conflict of the chronic complainer. Truth be told, we have all done it a time or two.  The challenge comes in avoiding their conflict without totally alienating them in the process.  I have tried a time or two to just say to the chronic complainer, "Hey, I am not interested" and then walk away.  Didn't go well for me, how about you?  They kind of interpret my "disinterest" in their conflict as another thing they can actually complain about!

One thing is for sure - chronic complainers need the "balance" of someone who can get perspective on a situation.  They may not realize they need us, but they do!  Discontent destroys - chronic complainers operate in this realm of discontent.  Not because they have to, but because they know no other way! In dealing with the chronic complainer it is essential for us to keep our focus directed toward the solution - not the problem.  The chronic complainer will do their best to focus on the problem - so they need someone to point them toward the solution.  Just sayin!