Do You See What I See?

As we enter into this holiday season you might hear the popular song titled, “Do you hear, what I hear?" Here is the first verse…

 

Said the night wind to the little lamb, do you see what I see?
Way up in the sky, little lamb, do you see what I see?
A star, a star, dancing in the night… With a tail as big as a kite.

In the song, the wind doesn’t know the whole story – he only sees a star.  The song goes telling us of a lamb seeing a star and hearing a song – he doesn’t know the whole story either. Even the young boy in verse three doesn’t know the whole story when he goes to tell the king that a child has been born worthy of silver and gold. Today, we know the 2000 year old story of Jesus’ birth but, we do not know the story of Jesus unfolding in lives all over the world.

 

What do you see in these pictures?

A happy young girl on her birthday or a girl letting go of some balloons

at her best friends funeral?

Is this man running from the cops or did he just bust down a gate so an ambulance can get to his friend bitten by a snake?

 



Is the group on the hillside enjoying the view or escaping a flash flood below?

What we see is influenced by our past experiences and our present knowledge. Our past experiences can bias our opinions about what we see. Our present knowledge can be deceived by what we think we see.   Because of this human defect a lot of us jump to conclusions; we assume we know the truth and incorrectly conclude we know the whole story.

Years ago I read the book "7 Habits of Highly Effective People" by Steven Covey. In this book he explored paradigm shifts.  According to Covey, a paradigm shift means to have a sudden change in perception, a sudden change in point of view, of how you seeing.  He also said, “The way we see the problem is the problem. If you have a problem, the problem is that you are looking at it as a problem. It could be something else, such as an opportunity”.   


He told a story to illustrate:  There was a man that built a fence with his neighbor sitting on his back porch glaring at him every day.  Then one day the neighbor's wife came out to ask the man to take down the almost finished fence. That’s when he learned that the man next door had come out every day to talk to his neighbor about the material he’d used to build the fence but could never bring himself to speak because he was so distraught. The wife explained how her husband had been a prisoner of war and his job in the camp was to build fences using the same type of railroad ties the man had used to build is backyard fence. The man realized he’d been wrong about the neighbors glares, he’d confused pain for anger, and missed seeing the tears of the old man. That same day – the man removed the fence and his neighbor helped him build a new one.

As we celebrate the saviors birth this year, let's open our eyes and hearts to let God show us the story of Jesus in the lives of others around us. Let us be quick to love instead of assuming we know their story. Let us put aside judgement and assume the best about others. If we’re wrong, God will take care of the rest.

“ What we see now is like a dim image in a mirror; later we will see like we are face-to-face. What I know now is only a part; later knowledge will be complete – just as complete as God's knowledge of me.” 1 Corinthians 13:11-13 Good News Translation

**Lord, I thank you for knowing me completely.  Thank you for sending your son for all of us. Help me see and give love to others and help me not judge people or circumstances.  You know what I do not know and I trust you will lead me to do right with or without the information.  Your sight is clear and we are all found precious in it **

Click below to see a good example of assuming  you know, then finding out you’ve made a mistake.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=P83YtabHENQ

ANSWERS TO PHOTOS: funeral,  running from the cops,  enjoying the view