VIEW

Just as it is easy to get our lives wrapped up in running ourselves ragged but never really moving, advancing and progressing towards our goals, it is easy to get our life out of focus and have a distorted view of who we are and where we are going.

How I view myself limits what I can accomplish.  I can never rise above my own view of myself.

Our view of success is distorted.  In our society we are performance based.  Those who are considered successful have performed in such a way to advance, progress towards and achieve the goals that society has deemed as good goals.  We glorify the multimillionaire who worked hard and reached his goals, despite the drunken, drug induced lifestyle, and the string of broken relationships with spouses and children.  Then we label the young, divorced mother who works hard at three jobs trying to reach her goal of a better future for her child.  We neglect that she divorced to get away from the drunken, and drug induced lifestyle to protect her and her child.  We must stop judging success by $$$ and look at what we are doing with what we have to make the world around us a better place. 

We take so much for granted as we view our journey.  We long for the mountain top views, not realizing that there is beauty in the valley too.  We want the plush flowers and trees of the meadows, but dread the dry wilderness where we see mirages of what we long for internally.  It is in the valley and in the wilderness that perseverance keeps us on our journey to success.  It is in the mountains and meadows that we tend to slack off.  We must realize that all the terrain of our journey is beautiful.  We must gain perspective of what each of those times mean in our journey and find the beauty there.

We view the world around us by the possession that have been obtained.  Having worked with the richest people and the poorest in our society, what they have did not make them better or worse.  It was how they viewed their situation that mattered.  Those striving for the next best thing were dissatisfied with life, always hoping for the next thing.  Those who were content with where they were enjoyed the things around them, but didn't wrap their life around obtaining more.  We must keep our view on what we have, not what we don't have if we want to live content.

We allow what others say about us, or do to us to distort our view.  The fact is that what someone says about me, can only define who I am, if I let it.  What someone does to me, can not change who I am, unless I let it.  I love to use the example of U.S. Currency.  It was given it's value by its creator.  If I have a $100 bill, I can say all day long it is $5.00 and it will not change its value.   I can use that $100 bill for something good, or something bad, or something illegal and it still will not change its value.  I can tear it up (Which I learned is illegal) and as long as the majority of it is there, it is still worth $100.

We allow our past to define our view.  I grew up in a functionally dysfunctional home.  At five years old my life changed forever.  At five years old, I had no idea what much of was going on around me meant.  I grew up and my world view was shaped by the events of my childhood.  Things I held to be true, were in fact wrong.  My five year old mind made interpretations about things that were not accurate then, and are still not accurate today.  However, until I changed my perspective those untruths shaped my life. 

It is easy to allow the world's definitions to set our world view, to tell us what is success, what is beauty, who we are, and define our truth.  It is better thought to let God set our view.  To find out who God, our Creator is, because we were made in His image.  It is better to let God define who we are, because He made us.  It is better to get God's view of our life, because He knows our past, present and future and still loves us.  God is truth, so he will not distort reality.

When we get His view, the world becomes a place of possibilities.  We we get His view of who we are, nothing is impossible. As we draw closer to Him, our view becomes sharper, clearer, and accurate.

How could adjusting your view to a God centered view, change how you live your life tomorrow?