Your Point Of View

18 Nov

“Today will be partly cloudy — or, partly sunny — depending upon your point of view.”
~ Captain Rob Hempstead

As you are probably aware, I recently returned from a transatlantic cruise.  During the cruise, the captain would get on the intercom each day right around Noon to give us a report on our position, distance sailed, distance to go, the depth of the sea, and the weather.  I remember the first day that we were going to be seeing some sun.  The captain, as he made his report, said, “Today will be partly cloudy”, and then he paused a moment and continued, “or partly sunny, depending upon your point of view.”

When I heard him say that, I began to laugh and thought to myself how true his words were.  There were a number of people on board who were whining and complaining about the weather, about the rough seas, about canceled shows due to the rough seas, et cetera.  They could not see the beauty of the new ship upon which they were sailing.  Their thoughts were fixed on all the negative around them and they were not able to see the many positives.

Our lives are filled with numerous examples of that.  There are times that we cannot see anything good and positive around us because, for one reason or another, we have fixed upon the negative.  Even if something positive snuck up on us and bit us, we would not be able to recognize it.

Perspective is very important in our faith lives.  If we believe that the world and the people in the world are basically sinful and bad, we will not see anyone doing good.  We will be suspicious of everyone.  We will live in disillusionment and fear.  That is a horrible way to live life.

If we believe that people are basically good, we will be able to see past the mistakes that they make and past the people who choose to do bad and recognize that others are good.  We will be able to live in joy and hope rather than in fear and discouragement.

It all comes down to our perspective.  Jesus is not going to force us to think and feel a certain way.  That is totally up to us.  Do you believe that people are good?  Do you believe that Jesus is good?  Do you believe that each day is a gift from God for you to use.  Do you believe that God wants you to be happy and fulfilled?  If you do, you will live your lives in peace and harmony and with good will towards others because you will realize the gift that they are.

FAITH ACTION:  Ask God to help you to see the good in all those around you this day.