Monday, November 12, 2012

PERSPECTIVE

"Give thanks to the Lord for He is good.  His mercy endures forever." (Psalm 107:1)

     A thank you is in order to Gary Brand, and the Generations Council for sponsoring the Trinity movie night last night.  It was a wonderful night of fellowship, food and a movie with an important message.  The movie, entitled "Temple Grandin"  Is the true story of a young woman who not only overcame her Autism to earn a PhD. but learned that her Autism was a gift that enabled her to see the world in ways others could not.

    In one scene, Temple's high school science teacher shows the class an optical illusion and challenges them to come up with how it was done. Almost immediately Temple responds "perspective". The teacher informs her she is correct but then adds another challenge.  Can you repeat the illusion? Can you figure out the perspective?

  In many ways that's the theme of the movie. Perspective. We see the world form temple's perspective, and we see temple form the perspective of others.  To the cattlemen, she is an intrusion.  To the students, she is a freak. To her roommate she is a friend. To her mother she is her daughter whom she will not let be ignored by the world. To her science teacher, and in many ways her Aunt, she is potential. It reminds us that life can be seen from several different perspectives. It's up to us to choose the perspective, the lens, through which we view the world and others.

     I've seen that reminder in a different way the past few weeks. It's a trend I'm seeing in many social media venues. That's surprising as most social media trends tend to be a bit tiresome.  But not this one. Many of my friends have taken "the 30 days of thanks" challenge. Each day they are to list three things they are thankful for.  Each day has a theme so it can be a task.

  It's refreshing to see some good things in social media. Its nice to see people being thankful.  But I think the challenge is designed to teach us perspective. One can look at the world and only see challenges and problems. Or one can look at the worldand see the marvelous grace and blessings of God that are all around us. Do you see your job as a burden, or are you thankful for the blessings of having employment.

  I suspect changing our perspective to seeing blessings, learning to be thankful, has some wonderful benefits.  maybe you should try it. What might happen if you would change your perspective on your world and be thankful?  As we creep closer to the holidays, there is no better time to start.

In Christ,
Dr. Brian Jones <><

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