Reframing Life

The facts are the same, the filter is different. What we filter out or allow to filter 'in' within our minds determine how we will respond to information presented to us. We call this a cognitive bias - the filters we apply within our minds based upon our experiences and/or our preferences. The facts will be the same in how we see things, but we can see it quite differently, can't we? The frame of our thought or situation defines how we see the situation. We change the 'frame' of our day and we can change the way we interpret the events of that day. The filter or frame are dependent upon us - we choose the filter we apply or the frame in which we see things in life. We cannot control what happens TO you, but you can control HOW you see it.

I want to report to you, friends, that my imprisonment here has had the opposite of its intended effect. Instead of being squelched, the Message has actually prospered. All the soldiers here, and everyone else, too, found out that I’m in jail because of this Messiah. That piqued their curiosity, and now they’ve learned all about him. Not only that, but most of the followers of Jesus here have become far more sure of themselves in the faith than ever, speaking out fearlessly about God, about the Messiah. (Philippians 1:12-14)

We oftentimes have expectations that form in our minds. Those expectations set a 'frame' by which we interpret our lives. If that frame is based upon something we really wanted, but we don't have it now, we might be seeing life through a 'frame' of disappointment or regret. Expectations are important - we need to understand how they affect our filters and frames by which we interpret life's events and moments. We often want the exact OPPOSITE of what we are framing our events as right now. So, why don't we change the frame? The frame is part of our 'experiential cognitive bias'. We 'frame' life in either a negative sense, or choose to reframe it in a positive sense.

Our frames shape what we experience. We can see life differently because of a different frame. What frame do you most need to change in your life? There are times we choose the wrong frame for our day, event, or relationship. As an amateur woodworker I have learned there is a benefit in preparing the frame for what I am creating long before I set out to create it. We call it a blueprint or plan. The plan helps to determine the outcome. I have started a few projects with NO plans at all. They didn't end up as nice as the ones with the 'frame' prepared ahead of time. 

We might just need to decide the meaning of an event or situation before we enter into it - that is cognitive reframing. We let Jesus frame the meaning of an event or situation. How? We seek his 'view' of the day even before we begin that day. It is why I study the Word each day - to cognitively reframe my day even before it begins. Prayer also reframes our day - moments spent just sharing what we are going through or anticipating we will go through in the presence of God. The frame might need to be different - because we cannot control the circumstances - but we can see the blessings in the moment when we apply the right frame! Just sayin!

See or Behold?

Albert Pike once penned a reminder to all of us: "The eye of the cheerful and of the melancholy man are fixed on the same creation; but very different are the aspects which it bears to them." In other words, we all see the same things, but we see them in quite different ways. The way we interpret things is often based upon the circumstances we find ourselves in, or the experiences we have amassed over our lifetime. We "see", but the similarity of what we "behold" is different. It is quite possible to gaze at God's creation one day, seeing one thing that captures our attention, then see it totally differently the next day. Why is that? Today's perceptions may be 'colored' or 'clouded' by whatever is occurring deep within our mind, body, and soul at that moment in time. It is good to see, but it is even better to see as God sees - with freshness, renewal, and grace!

What a wildly wonderful world, God! You made it all, with Wisdom at your side, made earth overflow with your wonderful creations. Oh, look—the deep, wide sea, brimming with fish past counting, sardines and sharks and salmon. Ships plow those waters, and Leviathan, your pet dragon, romps in them. All the creatures look expectantly to you to give them their meals on time. You come, and they gather around; you open your hand and they eat from it. If you turned your back, they’d die in a minute— Take back your Spirit and they die, revert to original mud; Send out your Spirit and they spring to life— the whole countryside in bloom and blossom. (Psalm 104:24-30 MSG)

We have a whole flock of love birds that live in the wild in the area of our work. When my BFF and I take our afternoon walk after lunch, we oftentimes will see them in flight, or repeating messages across the tree tops at each other. It is as though one calls to the other and they are just not satisfied until all of them have joined up in very close proximity to each other. I wonder if that is the case with you and I? Is God's creation calling to us to draw nearer to him? To each other? It could just be we won't fully appreciate God's creation until we are near enough to him to fully see it as he sees it! You do realize scripture declares that even his 'creation' gives testimony to who he is - meaning that even the love birds in the trees, or tiniest of hummingbirds calling out can be a reminder to us to draw near to him!

As we walk along, my BFF may point out a tiny head peeping from a mound way across the open field. The wee gopher perched just far enough out of his hole - allowing him to see just enough to keep him safe - yet so far away from us that he will not find the grapes we toss his way. There are times we stay so safely 'perched' so as to just barely see, close enough to quickly escape anything appearing as a threat to us, but in so doing we often miss the greatest of pleasures God has prepared for us! It is possible we miss much - maybe by our 'not looking so as to behold', but merely to 'observe'. There is a great difference between 'looking' and 'beholding', my friends.

Let us go through life, not just 'seeing', but really 'beholding' what it is God has put in our midst. When we hear the calls to come closer, to draw in and be with him, let us heed those calls. When we find it is time to look with fresh eyes on something we have seen only one way all our days, let us be open to seeing, really beholding, that thing in a different way - through 'fresh eyes'. Just lookin!

But...who is to blame?

A man born blind - what resulted in his blindness? In the ninth chapter of John we find the story of a man born blind - forced to spend each day begging for something to fill his belly - something to provide for his welfare. The day he met Jesus was a day just like all the rest - yet it was soon to be unlike all the rest. He was in his usual spot for begging - awaiting a passerby with a tender heart who might put a mite or two in his cup. This day, as Jesus was passing by, his disciples pose a question to Jesus about the man's blindness. Their question centered on who had sinned - the man himself, or his parents. You see, we often see the 'disease' in another and wonder who is to blame for the 'disease' rather than to recognize the heart and soul buried deep within that disease. We see the outward and question why - Jesus sees the inward and provides answers that go much deeper!

Jesus then said, "I came into the world to bring everything into the clear light of day, making all the distinctions clear, so that those who have never seen will see, and those who have made a great pretense of seeing will be exposed as blind." (John 9:39)

They were doing what so many did in their day - equating his blindness to some sin condition. A physical ailment in those times was often equated with sin. It was either the sin of his parents, or his own personal sin, that they were asking about - focusing on the thing they thought answered the 'why' behind the blindness, but not even seeing the man deep insight those sightless eyes. Jesus' response was quite revealing - he told them that they were looking for the person to blame. So often, we look at ailments, diseases, less than desirable conditions and all we want to do is find someone to blame - usually not ourselves, but another. We want to place blame while Jesus is all about showing what God can do in a person's life. He tells his disciples not to focus on the "fault" or the "why" for the man's condition, but rather on what God can and will do with a yielded life.

The truth of the matter is that there are those who proclaim to have all the truth, while others simply know they don't. Some claim to "see", while others clearly know they cannot. What amazes me about Jesus is that he always uses the weak to confound the strong, the lame to counter the upright and haughty, the timid to undo the boastfulness of the bold. The blind man didn't even know who was standing before him that day. When he is encountered by Jesus, he is totally blind to the deliverer at his feet. He cannot give testimony to "who" or "what" made him blind. He cannot really say he "saw" his deliverer and reached out for his help. He just knew his 'condition' and he was 'looking' in the only way he knew how to 'look' for his help - with outstretched hands, seeking heart, and hopeful anticipation.

There are times in our lives when our blindness is what everyone sees. We "get by" in our condition of blindness, but we don't really flourish. We are stuck in the rut of simply looking for enough to get by for that moment or that day - reaching out, but not for the 'permanent' fix, just the immediate one. We don't really hope for deliverance from our blindness - we just live with it. We can be blind to our faults, our fears, and our failures. In our condition of blindness, we can do nothing more than "feel our way through life". Jesus wants more for us than just "feeling our way through life". He wants us to experience it fully - the way God intended for us to experience it from the beginning. The man's eyes were opened - causing him to announce with a certainty - "I don't know who this man is...but I do know this....Once I was blind....now I see!" That day opened up more than this man's eyes. He no longer had to return to the place of begging. He was free to come and go as he desired - no longer bound to going only to the places he knew so well - now his life was opened to the possibilities of experiencing new things.

That is what it is like to be delivered from our blindness - to stop focusing on who is to blame and to just reach out with anticipation and eagerness. When we stop trying to look for someone to blame for our condition, we are one step closer to being able to see what we could not see before. When we are open to the newness of experience that comes with our deliverance, we can see that the "truth" we thought we once knew is now enlarged by our fresh vision - we see clearly for the first time what had always been there, but we just never saw. There is great deliverance at your feet - will you trust Jesus to touch you? Will you seek to see rather than to just know why it is you cannot see? Just askin!

Look, don't touch

As a member of the human race, I speak as one fully aware of how we are so consumed with what "looks good" - many times judging a book by what we see on the cover without inspecting the pages to see what is contained within. The perception of eyes often becomes the only method we utilize to determine the "goodness" or "evil" of a certain thing or person. We set ourselves up for accepting things that are clearly outside of God's best for our lives when we are only "cover readers". While the surface may be soft or hard, bold or muted, or even seemingly impenetrable, it remains just that - the surface! There is ALWAYS something beneath the surface - sometimes begging for discovery, other times hoping no one will ever know!

Humans are satisfied with whatever looks good; God probes for what is good.  (Proverbs 16:2)

Surface or real? David and Bathsheba - David was King of Israel, his troops are out fighting the battle to take more territory in the name of Israel, and he is at home, enjoying the view from his rooftop. He gazes upon Bathsheba, a beautiful woman, bathing on her rooftop (a custom of the day). What he saw "looked good" - what he saw, he wanted and so, he took her as his own. What he failed to do was to consider the reality that under the surface, she was another man's wife - she had already given her heart to another. He looked only at the surface, became enamored in what he beheld with his eyes, and engaged in his plan without further thought.

Surface or real? The Rich Young Ruler - a man of wealth, holding a prominent place in society, approaches Jesus and his disciples one day while they were ministering to the crowds. He proclaims to Jesus that he wanted to be a follower of Christ - one of his disciples. To this he adds a long litany of "credentials" he hopes will show Jesus just how "qualified" he was for the role. His "credentials" are all "good" - kept the letter of the law, observed the feasts and holy days, studied the scriptures, and the list goes on. Jesus asks him to sell all he has (a substantial amount), give it to the poor, and then come to follow him as his disciple. Beneath the surface of all these 'shiny works and accomplishments' this is too much for this man, as we see him leave and never return again.

We often see what we are looking to see - not what is actually there to behold. David saw the "woman of his dreams" - or more accurately, the woman of his fantasies! He never stopped to listen to the niggling of his conscience that she was another man's wife! She looked good! He wanted her and he never looked back until it was too late. The rich young ruler saw a life of tremendous fame in front of him if he could get on this 'inside track' with Jesus' band. He had attained all he could attain in the society in which he lived. Now Jesus and his disciples, thronged by crowds, filled the streets with miracles, signs, and wonders. He wanted what they had, but wasn't aware there would be a cost to obtain it. I am not sure that he actually saw what they had as "fame" or "renown", but he is called upon to go deeper than he has ever gone in his obedience before - and he is unable to do so. What he saw "looked good" to him - but he had failed to count the cost of such a life of service.

How do we begin to "look beyond the cover" of what we see? We are to "probe" deeper. When we probe, we look into a matter with the intention of seeing all there is to see (just like when we read the pages of a book rather than skimming it or only looking at the pictures). This type of "examination" allows us to see beyond the surface appearance of "good" to what actually is at the root of a person, a circumstance, or a pleasant appearing opportunity. God's invitation to us today is to look deeper than we ever have before - to learn to see the heart behind the action of another; the temporary satisfaction of an immediate gratification of our longings or lusts; or the indicators of integrity that give us insight into the heart of another. We need to learn what it is to "examine carefully before we buy"! We "buy into" much that God would rather we never consider in the first place! Sin has an enticing cover - we need to learn to look beyond the cover to see the trap contained within. Just lookin!