Hey, I don’t know if any of you saw the really funny post that I had up for a couple of hours last night with the SNL clip of “Debbie Downer” on it, but I decided to take it off of the site. I had downloaded the video from Google Video, and it looked great, but I forgot that downloaded vids link up to other clips from their host site, and I wasn’t sure what the clip that I put on the page might potentially lead to. I didn’t want to worry about the possibility of inadvertently posting something inappropriate, so I went the safe route and just removed it. It's a very funny clip, though (it's the one where the family is at Disney World), and it's easy to find online.But the point of the article was about choosing the positive over the negative...going the Joshua and Caleb route, instead of taking the path of the 10 negative spies. All twelve of them were telling the truth about what they saw in Canaan, but they had different realities because they all had different perceptions.
I explored this concept in my book 20/20 Vision: Changing Your Life by Changing the Way You See Things (the book that they interviewed me about on Streaming Faith last week). Dr. Mark Chironna wrote the preface to the book, and it has a really cool workbook that accompanies it which several churches have used (and are currently using) to teach their congregations about vison and perception and creating reality. Even a church in Uganda that is doing great work in the area of AIDS prevention just started using it, which I'm really excited about. I'll probably touch on some of this subject today in our service at CITN (as I did last week) while I finish up the series on "The Jacob Principle". If you'd like to hear it but don't live in the area, you can stream the service live at 10:00 AM EST. Just log onto www.churchinthenow.org and follow the instructions.
Is the glass half-empty? Yes, it is. Is the glass half-full? Yes it is. Parallel realities can and do exist...which one do you see for your life?
8 comments:
Saw the clip. Hysterical. I also enjoy when a cast can't hold it together.
Alternate realities. Cool subject.
See comment on whippersnappers.
BTW--I see both, and imprison the empty one when it takes a front seat. Looking forward to today's message.
Honestly, it depends on what day you ask me on. When I see things through His eyes, half full, through my own. Half empty. It really is all a matter of perspective. Which brings me to today's sermon.You sermons are always great, but this one really hit a chord with me, to strangely enough, not look at the big picture sometimes. Like when you're trying to climb a mountain, you're not supposed to look down. If you do, you'll get scared and want to stop, or (even worse) descend. Anyone who has struggled with weight, will tell you that they're always looking for the "thing" (pill/shake/video/operation in some cases) that will work, not realizing the little things add up, and the more you focus on it (especially if you have to lose a significant amount) the harder it will be. I thought about it as I was cooking lunch today, last year when I had lost a good amount of weight, (45-50 lbs probably) I wasn't really "trying" to do it, I wasn't even exercising. I had made some small modifications to what I ate and when I ate it, was drinking lots of water, talking with my counselor or writing to de-stress, kept more fruit and less ice cream in the house, and the weight loss was a by-product. Then when I went home, received the compliment from my parents on how well I was doing, it all came to a grinding halt. I started thinking, "ok he's noticed so I gotta have more off the next time I go home or he'll say something" and the stress led me back to bad habits. So, now, I'm going to try and approach it the way I did before. It may be a cliche that the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step, but it's true. Thanks :-)
Thanks, Avatar...
Ebony, I think everyone can relate to that on some level. Great observation.
If in the right spirit, half full.
If half empty, well then I am not operating in faith... faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. I
also am learning to ask myself as I grow more mature ( I like that word better than older, better than that how about more seasoned.) What could I possibly contribute to the fact that my glass is half empty? I mean my cup should be running over...soooo why the scarcity? could it be that I am judgeing others..or do I feel unworthy of a full glass? Is there unforgiveness in my heart? If my glass is half empty, I am convinced that somewhere a covenant has been doubted and I am sure it would fall on my end and not abbas...enjoyed the mini-musical of west side story this morning Bishop.
Thanks. I never plan any of that stuff...it just comes out.
I think we can all ask ourselves those questions at times, but they are really unanswerable ("Is this boy blind because he sinned, or because his parents sinned?")...the questions, I believe, are resolved by just continuing on the journey, and always expecting it to ultimately lead to a good outcome...
Hey Bish,
There are sometimes we need to see the glass half full because we are awaiting the moment when we can say that it is full and overflowing. For example using the Jacob principle there are times where we look back and see where God has brought us from, yet we still don't see the ENTIRE big picture ahead, so we still press on...we're only HALFWAY to the finish. Then there are the times in life where we get to a point that we need to look at it half empty because there are somethings in life we need to be rid of or some situations that need to die and shrivel away and ultimately we are waiting until it's totally empty and the liquid inside is gone. I know it may sound a little crazy in the natural but I really hope that when you're reading this you are reading this in the Spirit because that's exactly how i got it..by the Spirit.
Teezy
It's cool, Teezy...I try to hear everything in the Spirit...thanks for the comment..
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