Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away.
Psalm 90:10 NLT
In life we each face a threefold challenge; our perception, our habits and our attitudes.
Perception is the way we see or understand things. I imagine we have all looked at something, drawn a conclusion, and then realised, often with the benefit of someone else’s perception, we have seen something we hadn’t seen initially. Perceptions are powerful for they form and fuel our beliefs. It is our beliefs that then establish and reinforce our habits.
I wonder why so many retired people continue to visit the supermarket on a Saturday, perhaps the busiest day in the week? From my experience, early on a Monday afternoon is much quieter. However, habits once formed, are difficult to break.
Habits then forge our attitudes. These are our perspectives and inform how we choose to relate to people, situations and indeed the world in which we live. Most conflict is when these powerful three (perceptions, habits, attitudes) collide with another set and neither side is able, or willing, to consider if they might not be entirely right.
When trouble comes along, part of the struggle is the need to reconsider if my perception is accurate and/or appropriate. How I perceive something will determine how I react to it. My perception can bring me into conflict with God, especially if I don’t believe God is doing right by me. Until I changed my perception of my situation when called upon, somewhat unwillingly, to care for someone, my habits and attitudes only contributed to the level of misery and frustration I felt.
Finding ways to challenge your perception is hard. But others can help. The whole of scripture is God’s attempt to enable us to perceive life from God’s perspective. Once you move in that direction it has an immediate and far-reaching impact upon both habits and attitudes.
QUESTION
Are you stuck and rigid in the way you view the world and your own situation, or are you more fluid and flexible?
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