The phrase "perception equals reality" holds true in virtually every human endeavor. I read where Psychologist have documented the fact that it is not the actual events that harm, so much as the perception of events.
In the stunning movie Life is Beautiful a father finds himself and his young son thrown in a concentration camp in Germany during World War Two. Trying to shield his son from the horror of their situation, he tells the boy that it is all a game, and the first one who gets scared, loses. Somehow he is able to continually convince the boy that none of the cruelty they are seeing is real, but only a play that is taking place. He even predicts the ending, saying at the end of the game a big tank with smiling men is going to come into the camp and declare the winner. When indeed the tank of Americans pulls into camp, the little boy runs leaping and yelling in joy to greet it: "We won! We won!" The father's change of perception shielded the child from immense mental and emotional harm.*
Isn't this exactly the kind of father we need? We have this kind of Father in heaven and most of the time don't even realize it. We look past his promises and focus on all of the destruction and turmoil in our lives. His word promises in Revelation 7:17 that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. He is teaching us the same thing the father in the concentration camp taught his son: We are in a play that is going to have a happy ending no matter what it looks like today.
What seeming insurmountable problems are you facing today that have you in an uproar? How does God's promise of a happy ending help you gain a proper prospective?
Dearest Lord Jesus,
I know you will never leave me nor forsake me. You stay by my side through thick and thin. Please correct my perspective when I take my eyes of you and put them on my problems. And please help me to remember that my life is going to have a happy ending. You have said it and I believe it. In your precious name I pray. Amen.
*As told in Jesus Life Coach, by Laurie Beth Jones
In the stunning movie Life is Beautiful a father finds himself and his young son thrown in a concentration camp in Germany during World War Two. Trying to shield his son from the horror of their situation, he tells the boy that it is all a game, and the first one who gets scared, loses. Somehow he is able to continually convince the boy that none of the cruelty they are seeing is real, but only a play that is taking place. He even predicts the ending, saying at the end of the game a big tank with smiling men is going to come into the camp and declare the winner. When indeed the tank of Americans pulls into camp, the little boy runs leaping and yelling in joy to greet it: "We won! We won!" The father's change of perception shielded the child from immense mental and emotional harm.*
Isn't this exactly the kind of father we need? We have this kind of Father in heaven and most of the time don't even realize it. We look past his promises and focus on all of the destruction and turmoil in our lives. His word promises in Revelation 7:17 that God will wipe away every tear from our eyes. He is teaching us the same thing the father in the concentration camp taught his son: We are in a play that is going to have a happy ending no matter what it looks like today.
What seeming insurmountable problems are you facing today that have you in an uproar? How does God's promise of a happy ending help you gain a proper prospective?
Dearest Lord Jesus,
I know you will never leave me nor forsake me. You stay by my side through thick and thin. Please correct my perspective when I take my eyes of you and put them on my problems. And please help me to remember that my life is going to have a happy ending. You have said it and I believe it. In your precious name I pray. Amen.
*As told in Jesus Life Coach, by Laurie Beth Jones
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