The human eye is a neutral instrument. Instant by instant it transmits unfiltered data to your brain. Where you focus determines what you see.
How you see is a completely different subject.
How you see is determined not by where you look, but by who you are.
Consider this parable:
Just before their plane landed, a traveler asked the man seated next to him, “What are the people like in this city?”
“What are the people like where you came from?” the man responded.
“They’re despicable,” the traveler replied. “Rude, unkind, willing to do anything to get what they want.”
“I suspect that’s what you’ll find here as well,” said the man.
At the baggage carousel, a second traveler asked the same question. “What are the people like here?”
Again the man asked about the people from the traveler’s home town.
“They’re wonderful people. Kind, caring, willing to give you the shirt off their back.”
To which the man responded, “I’m sure you’ll find the same here.”
Who you are Determines What you See.
On the positive side, your attitude can overcome anything negative around you. Conversely, your attitude can also sabotage anything positive around you.
If you want to change the world around you, start with the heart that beats inside you. Ask God today to enable you to see the world the way He sees it.
Your eye is the lamp of your body. When your eyes are good, your whole body also is full of light. But when they are bad, your body also is full of darkness. See to it, then, that the light within you is not darkness. Therefore, if your whole body is full of light, and no part of it dark, it will be completely lighted, as when the light of a lamp shines on you.” Luke 11:34-36
What’s Next?
- How does your attitude color what you see around you?
- Do you want to be more optimistic?
- What can you do today to see the positive side of things?
Further Reading:
- How to Avoid Getting Stuck at Good Enough
- How to Write a Great Story with your Life
- 8 Easy Ways to be a Resilient Pastor
Hal Seed is the founding and Lead Pastor of New Song Community Church in Oceanside, CA. He mentors pastors who want to lead healthy, growing churches with resources at www.pastormentor.com.
Start Here to learn more about the resources available for you at PastorMentor.
Hey Hal,
Good blog. I’d love to use it as a ‘guest blog’ sometime if you wouldn’t mind. Here is one of mine:
At some point in life I allowed myself to be influenced by people and circumstances that should be qualified as inferior or even corrupt. I surrounded myself with people who have less than stellar ethics, and I use the term ‘ethics’ loosely in this blog. Unscrupulous and abysmal behavior began to creep in as the norm. The craziness that ensued is much like living with an alcoholic, it became difficult to make sense out of the troublesome battle between what I knew was good and right and what suddenly morphed into unmanageable and flawed.
In the past few weeks I have been fortunate enough to spend time with good and lovely people. The last days of my father’s life and the many family members and friends were in sharp contrast to what had become familiar to me as daily behavior.
I now make an effort to encircle myself with people of excellence and good character, both in my professional life as well as personal. I am grateful for the clear picture of what true value and goodness in a person can do for the soul and for the mind.
There’s a fine line between the dark and light, between heaven and hell. It’s not always easy to see. So much of perspective depends on where you’re standing and where you choose to focus.
Carl Jung:
There are as many nights as days, and the one is just as long as the other in the year’s course. Even a happy life cannot be without a measure of darkness, and the word ‘happy’ would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness.
Marvy! I can swipe it from the blog – I will let you know when posted! I’ll probably use it on Sunday. 🙂
Cheers and blessings to you also.
S
Great insight Susan! You are welcome to use my blog as a guest stop when it’s convenient for you. – Do you need an original copy emailed to you, or do you want to swipe it from my blogsite?
10,000 blessings,
Hal