Lenses

More and more I am realizing how the lense we view life from affects the way we think about things. Right now I view things from the lense of widowhood. Unless you have had this experience, you may not see things the way I do and may not understand why I see them that way. To break it down even farther, unless you are a widow/widower who had the same type of relationship with your spouse as I did with Eric, our lenses will be different still. Same experience, different view.
Everything that happens to us helps create our lense. I suppose that’s why some people are happy all the time and others struggle to see good in the daily events of their life. For the child who is unloved or never gets positive reinforcement, life can be a constant battle for acceptance and approval. Even long into adulthood their lense can be one of inferiority even though they are top notch in their field. Then there is the teenager who gives away their virginity way too cheaply and way too early thus beginning the struggle of feeling like second rate goods for the rest of their life. Think about the man caught stealing then lives the rest of his life feeling as though that’s all he’s remembered for or the woman who had an abortion and can’t get away from the memory.
Not all lenses are a struggle though. A good marriage makes life happier. An encouraged child looks forward to new things. Having that longed for baby, loosing 50 pounds, overcoming a bad habit or finally finishing the classes required for that Bachelors Degree are all things that make our point of view a little brighter.
Because of our lense, it can often be hard to see things from someone else’s perspective. We often don’t understand why they don’t see or think like we do and we become frustrated with their optimism or pessimism depending on how they are viewing things. (Yes, people do become frustrated with optimists – those annoyingly happy people!) There are times we need to be reminded that their feelings are real, they aren’t just being difficult; their lense is a bit cloudy at the moment.
There also comes a point in time when we have to clean our own lense. Events and experiences can cause our focus to become less than balanced and we need to examine the lense and change it where necessary – clean it, line it up or maybe even replace it. We are responsible for our own lense, others can tell us what maintenance needs done but it’s our job to do it. Sometimes refusing to examine our lense leaves us in a self-imposed bondage to past experiences. The experiences may not have been self-imposed, but the choice to live in their shadow is.
I did not choose the lense I have right now. At the same time I realize I can’t change it so I have to walk through it. Yes, I see things differently than I did two years ago. I also see them differently than I did a year ago. I can’t help it that I see through the lense of widowhood and grief – I don’t even like this lense – but none-the-less, it’s mine. Now I have to fine-tune it so I can discover what God wants me to see through it.
We should always remember that our lense is different from everyone elses to some degree and be patient with those who struggle. We should also remember that we can’t use a cloudy lense as an excuse to be difficult or give up. Being patient doesn’t mean being quiet and non-confrontational and having a faulty lense doesn’t give us the right to make it a crutch.
I Corinthians 13:12 tells us we don’t see things clearly, that we only know pieces of things. We also know that we have a Redeemer (Galatians 3:13). It wasn’t God’s original plan that we die, deal with sickness, encounter rape, suffer financial disaster or get our heart broken, so when sin sought to suffocate us with those things, He provided redemption through the thing most precious to Him – His son. The enemy of our soul wants to keep our lense dark and out of focus (I Peter 5:8) but God says He has come to give us life and give it in abundance (John 10:10). I believe I’ll trust God on this one.
If things are out of focus, seek God. If your lense is cloudy, do a little spiritual housecleaning. If you put yourself in this rotten position, repent and move forward. If circumstances beyond your control brought you here, hold on tight and allow God to walk you through the obstacle course. He IS faithful and loves us very much.