Half Empty or Half Full?
per•spec•tive /pərˈspektiv/ the capacity to view things in their true relations or relative importance
Perspective is everything.
Have you ever lost perspective? I have! Fear has spiraled my emotions to thoughts not real. Worry has brought me to places not healthy. Anger has exaggerated my hurts and offenses. Pride has blinded me from learning new things. It’s easy to lose perspective.
Søren Kierkegaard, the Danish philosopher, poet, theologian, social critic and author imagined, “The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays.”
Simply said, when we open ourselves up to God, he changes our perspective. We begin to see things differently, with more clarity, more hope, more reality.
We begin to see problems less as a burden and more as opportunities.
We no longer see the rain as an irritant but as a gift supporting life.
The poor, often seen as a nuisance are now seen as a chance to meet God.
Difficult times are not a curse but fertile ground to grow patience, strength, hope.
Everyday, we have the freedom and choice to either see the glass half empty or half full.
George Carlin observed, “Some people see the glass half full. Others see it half empty. I see a glass that's twice as big as it needs to be.” PERSPECTIVE
Comedian Steven Wright mused “Everywhere is walking distance, if you have the time.” PERSPECTIVE.
Abraham Lincoln noted, “We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.” PERSPECTIVE.
C.S. Lewis declared, “What you see and hear has a lot to do with where you are standing.” PERSPECTIVE.
When Goliath came against the Israelites, the soldiers all thought, “He’s so big we can never kill him.” David looked at the same giant and thought, “He’s so big I can’t miss.” PERSPECTIVE.
Jesus taught us a prayer of perspective. “May your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.”
I call this “The prayer of a cup half full.”
I grew up in a church which too often taught the world was going to hell in a hand-basket and we were supposed to hide out and hold on until Jesus came back. Half empty.
Jesus came proclaiming a different perspective!
“The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; he has appointed me to preach Good News to the poor; he has sent me to heal the brokenhearted and to announce that captives shall be released and the blind shall see, that the downtrodden shall be freed from their oppressors, and that God is ready to give blessings to all who come to him.”
Doesn’t sound half empty to me. Doesn’t sound like hiding out and holding on.
Jesus’ prayer was for his kingdom to come, right now, on earth as it is in heaven, as he commissioned and enabled the church to storm the gates of hell to rescue the poor, the blind, the lost, the addicted, the judged, the hungry and hell’s gates would not prevail.
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice.” Isaiah 58:6
How’s your perspective these days? Is your cup half full or half empty?
How are your prayers lately?
Are your prayers, “Jesus, I’m digging a bunker, the government is a mess, I’m going to play it safe, I’m going to let fear control me and pessimism be my guide.”
Our are you praying boldly and with great anticipation, “Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Thank you for welcoming me into a kingdom where courage overcomes fear, light defeats darkness, Grace crushes shame, life conquers death, where love is greater than hate and the unseen is more powerful than the seen.”
God’s kingdom is a kingdom where THE GLASS IS HALF FULL AND IT’S GETTING FULLER.
This is the perspective God invites us to live with and in.
“These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” (Jesus)