A matter of perspective.

Yesterday I was reading one of my old collections of Reader´s Digests and came across this little dittie:-

"I had been Sports Editor of the Port Chester, N.Y., Daily Item only a few weeks when my wife and I went to the movies in downtown Port Chester. The house lights were still on as we walked down th aisle and the 13 or 14 people scattered throughout the theatre turned towards and began to applaud. I was stunned. Even though my daily sports column included a photo of me, I had no idea I had become so popular in such a short time.

When the moive was over, one of the patrons came over and vigorously shook my hand. "I´m very flattered that all you people recognize me, " I told him. "I´m really amazed and honoured."

"I don´t know about that," he said, puzzled. "All I know is that a few seconds before you and your wife walked in, they announced that unless there were at least 15 customers in the theatre, the wouldn´t show the moive!!""


Isn´t that precious? I just laughed and laughed when I read this and I began to ponder how important the role perspective plays in our lives!

This newspaper reporter had a certain perspective about what was going on and interpreted the situation from that stand point. It´s very funny to note that what he thought was the reason for the applause couldn´'t have been further from the truth could it?

One could conclude that our perspectives can often not be based on truth, and therefore the conclusions we often draw can be erroneous. Our perspective is based often only on part of the truth and not the whole picture.

perspective
noun

1.
a way of regarding situations or topics etc.; "consider what follows from the positivist view" [syn: position]
2.
the appearance of things relative to one another as determined by their distance from the viewer

I am sure many of you have seen the movie Ratatouille and the part when the food critic Anton orders some perspective and the poor waiter stands there dumb founded wondering what on earth he is talking about.

Perspective is key when forming our ideas and opinions about where we are at, where we will go and what we will do. Our perspective plays a major role in how we afront difficulties and walk through life. It can be a make or break of many situations. It has the ability to rise above what we see. It´s interesting that our perspective is determined by DISTANCE or POSITION.

Working in a team gives us the posibility of having different perspectives and to view any given situation from all angles. The bible talks about there being wisdom in a multitude of counsellors and I believe that is what it´s conveying.

There is also reference to being in heavenly places with Christ Jesus...being up there with him and seeing our lives from His perspective. Placing distance between us and our problems can be the first step to gaining a truthful perspective on the whole.

1 Corinthians 13:12 says

For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face; now I know in part, but then I will know fully just as I also have been fully known.

Now we see in part...our perspective on this earth is limited, but God´s is not. He has the whole perspective from all positions and He wants to guide us.

Let us then be encouraged to do as it says in Proverbs 3:5

Trust in the LORD with all your heart

And do not lean on your own understanding................ (to your own perspective!!!!)

There are no ugly women!

This photo was taken at a competition in June 2006. The competition was between 9 women for best makeover. They had every possible beauty treatment available to them over a period of 12 hours before the contest.Conclusion - there are no ugly women * (see below), only poor women.... If you had the money....Good Grief!!! The woman 2nd from the left won the contest.


click on the picture to enlarge.

***** Added later

I am like most of you and go for the natural look myself....but the reason I liked this so much is because you can see that ordinary people can look like movie stars after all the make up and air brushing..... Remember not all what we "see" is real and we must not let ourselves be influenced by these images. Our self esteem and worth are based on other things......

White Tulips

I love white tulips! A very dear friend went to great lengths to send me some because she knows I love them. She knew it would cheer my heart. It did. It still does when I look at them.

Isn´t it amazing when all around you seems dismal, a little touch of thoughtfulness can go a long, long way.

Not much in my panoroma has changed, some pain still remains. There has been a change in perspective about some things.

Sadly new struggles have appeared on the horizon for others that are close to me. Their pain far exceeds my own. This is always good as it gets the attention off oneself!!

My family has come to visit from Guernsey which has bought a lot of comfort. Sadly both my sister in law and I have been sick with the flu!

A very big thank you to all of you who have written emails of concern and for all of your prayers. They are greatly appreciated!

Yesterday...cleaning car day!!!

Hey what do you think? Doesn´t it look nice and clean! No 3 and I did the one over to it yesterday and I put the little teddy in for fun.....to add that special touch!

As I was driving it this morning to do that all wonderful grocery shopping that I love, I couldn´t help but enjoy how clean my windshield was! I could see so clearly now.... I realized just how quickly I had gotten used to the rain stained windscreen even though it didn´t give me very clear vison...

Oh yes I could see, but once the window was really clean it dawned on me just how dirty it had become! How easy it was to just live with the dirt, to adjust and accept this blurred view of the road.

Aren´t we like that in how we view life sometimes? We just accept the dirt... You could liken it to those unforgiven offenses, our pride, our sins and even our dreams can become responsible of misting up our vision of God, others and ourselves.

It reminds me of those verses ,now we seem dimly through a stained glass...one day we shall see Him as he truly is...

1 Cor 13:12Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.

Even so, God does show us glimpses of his truth and glory through our dirty windshields. He does promise us a good cleaning ( cleanse us from all sin..) and leave us sparkling clean like my lovely Citroen ZX!!!! then we start to see things as God sees them!!!!!

On Sunday the speaker in church shared from Rom12: v2

Then you will be able to test and approve what God´s will is... his good, pleasing and perfect will.

I felt like God was saying to me that this was what I needed to do to keep my spiritual windshield clean... to renew my mind in His Word and then I will be able to "see" and know what God´s will is.....

The way will be clear...just as clear as my car windscreen is today!!!!!!

Contrasts

CONTRAST:
put in opposition to show or emphasize differences;
the opposition or dissimilarity of things that are compared
the act of distinguishing by comparing differences

This weekend Dh and I had the privilege of staying in a 5 star hotel in Oporto, Portugal. Wow, wow, wow! Yes, indeed! It was a special gift certificate from my dear sis in law for Christmas! All we had to do was: get there...which we did...using Ryan Air (for next to nothing!)

The hotel was, naturally, out of this world! Our room was an Executive Room, decorated with modern style geometric furniture, very fashionable chocolate brown curtains and accessories, plus "sink your feet into it" luscious beige pile carpet. The bathroom had a Japanese flavor, with heated marble floors and towel racks!

We mustn't forget to mention the two hotel bathrobes and matching slippers that hung invitingly in the bathroom (reminded me of Pretty Woman) and the twice a day chambre services which included a special "pull the bed down" treatment at night with ferrero roches on the pillows! There was of course a plasma tv and other typical hotel commodities that made "the cherry on the cake" to this nothing lacking hotel stay experience.


On a lighter note, I must add that the wall to wall mirror in the bedroom and bathrooms, although giving a feeling of expansion and light, made one somewhat self conscious and not very flattering to say the least! After all, I am no longer 18 !

We arrived at this destination of dreams around lunch time and then later on in the afternoon we discovered a Lidl (very economical supermarket chain - to not use the word cheap!) and bought a few little bits and bobs like water, nuts etc) We smuggled this back into our room and enjoyed our treats while watching the travel channel!

It´s amazing isnt it? Here we were in the "lap of luxury" sipping down sparkling water that cost 40 cents and not the 4 Euros 4 0 cents that the minibar service offered! I couldn't help but ponder the contrast of our situation and let out a little giggle!

We both knew too well that we really didn't "belong" to the typical 5 star hotel profile. We aren't part of the jet set who call for room service, use the hotel bathrobes or drink the sparkling water without batting an eyelid! Yet here we were here enjoying every detail of this amazing situation! What a contrast! What a contradiction!



Yes, life can be full of contradictions! You can be sad and happy at the same time (especially women have this capacity during pregnancy and monthly hormonal fluctuations!) poor in finance and rich in family, dreams and reality, living on earth yet belonging to heaven, servant and king....

Jesus was a servant... yet a King.... what a contrast, what a contradiction! At least to our human thinking, our "limited" dimension. In the Spiritual dimension these apparent contrasts and contradictions begin to make sense, take on real value and make possibilities out of problems.

It makes me think of the Beatitudes in Matthew 5:1-11

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven
Blessed are thos who mourn...for they will be comforted
Blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth...
etc.....

God calls blessed what we would call the opposite.... God sees everything in the light of who HE is and what He CAN DO.....I am reminded today that even though I felt uncomfortable with the contrast of drinking my Lidl sparkling water in a 5 star hotel, God does not feel uncomfortable or limited with the impossibility of my life´s contrasts.....my life´s questions...

Sadly some of life´s contrasts cause us pain. It´s inevitable. But there is a place where every tear will be wiped from our eyes and there will be no more pain. God does say that on this earth we will suffer all kinds of trials, but he does promise us not only that he will be with us now...but also that he has gone to prepare a place for us..... and it for sure is better than any 5 star!!!!!

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, trust also in me. In my Father´s house are many rooms. If it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am"......... John 14.-3

When life doesn´t always have the right shape!

I had a very similar toy like this for my boys when they were toddlers. The object of the game being to put the right shape into the container using the right shaped hole. In the process of the game you obviously also learn that the square shape DOESN'T fit into the round hole and so forth.

This also happens in life doesn't it? We want the square peg conflict to fit into the round hole solution and it just doesn´t. Sadly, we still keep on trying the square problem with the round solution anyway, becoming exhausted and frustrated at every unsuccessful attempt!

God reminded me of this game just the other day in respect to my relationship with my son. I keep trying to put this square peg into the round hole and it just doesn't work. I need to find the round hole for him! If not, I will end up breaking my square peg.

For some reason, we find it hard to let others be who they are. Not because we don´t like them, or because we think they should be like us (ha, ha...) but more because we don´t understand them. This lack of understanding makes us afraid and insecure which con result in an issue of control. Sometimes in our "afan" to want others achieve their fullest potential, we forget to realize that this might happen in ways that differ from what we might deem to be the "right" or the "best" way.

If there is anything that I have learned especially my boys, that is that there is more than one way to see life.

Have you ever seen those pictures, those optical illusion drawings, where some people see a lady and others see a saxophone player? See the pic below. If you see the one it´s often very hard to see the other. It takes training your eye to see it. Nonetheless, the two co-exist within the same picture. Often due to our "closedness" about seeing the "one", we very rarely can conceive the other object in the picture at all. This translates in real life too.

Life can be seen from very many different perspectives which can all be correct! If you understand that...you are well on the way to enjoying the differences rather than having them cause stress and frustration. If we can learn to respect, honour and value these differences in each other, life can take on a much more positive and enjoyable view.

That reminds me of the passage where God talks about the one body being formed of many parts: 1Cor 12:12

Now the body is not made up of one part but of many.

If the foot should say, "Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body.

And if the ear should say "because I am not an eye I do not belong to the body," it would not for that reason cease to be part of the body....

v.19 If they were all one part, where would the body be? As it is there are many parts, but one body.


The eye cannot say to the hand , "I don´t need you!" And the head cannot say to the feet, "I don´t need you!"

On the contary, those parts of the body that seem to be weaker are indispensable, and the parts that we think are less honorable we treat with special honour...

But God has combined the members of the body and has given greater honour to the parts that lacked it, so that there should be no division in the body, but that it´s parts should have equal concern for each other.

May God help us to appreciate the squares, triangles, rectangles and circles in our lives and enjoy them for who they are.....

RAIN

RAIN:

Condensed moisture of the atmosphere
falling in separate drops.

“The best thing one can do when it's raining is to let it rain.”

Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

These last couple of days have bought with them showers of very necessary rain. For Spain, this is an answer to prayer!

We have had several years of extreme scarcity of "condensed moisture" falling on our Iberian soil, so when it does occur you will never hear any complaints. With our reservoirs at dangerously low levels, no-one would "dare" voice negative thoughts about this rare and priceless element.

Spain has always been the travellers paradise precisely for it´s infallible sunshine, especially sought after by the Brits and Germans who are drawn to this warming quality(and we can all understand why!!)

“Anyone who says sunshine brings happiness has never danced in the rain”

But isn´t it interesting to realize, that even too much sun, can have a devastating effect? We see that here in the natural, Could it also be true in our lives? We actually long for sun, constant sunshine, as if it is the only form of happiness and despise the rain because it makes our life gray and sad, it´s always inconvenient, and definitely wet! Haven´t you noticed that it always rains in the movies when something sad or bad is happening?

If sunshine is happiness, then rain represents everything that isn´t. As constant seekers of happiness we despise the rain ... run from it where possible....and we find it hard to see God in our rain, fearing that there is no "dance in the rain" and no song.

Life is like a rainbow. You need both the sun and the rain to make its colors appear.”

We do! We need both rain and sun to be truley balanced and satisfied human beings. Not that anyone of us in the natural (hey there are a few exc eptions, I know!) begs for rain, or to continue with our analogy: challenges and difficulties in our lives. But when we are able to see the effects of too much sun, as we do in Spain, we can then accept the rain without complaining...because we KNOW we NEED it!

“God didn't promise days without pain,

laughter without sorrow,

sun without rain,

but He did promise strength for the day,

comfort for the tears, and light for the way.”

I have to be honest. I dislike rain, and I also find it very difficult to "dance" in my times of hardship..I´m learning to sing in the rain of my difficulties.(to coin a phrase!)

Growing up in Guernsey has given me my fair "share" of rain to suffice my appreciation for rain for the rest of my life...... but I have been able to enjoy Spanish rain and especially electrical summer storms which I find spectacular. I have even danced in them and opened my mouth to catch it.... I guess it´s all a matter of perspective!!!!