God's Point of View

Some of you have heard this already.

What would you do if Jesus appeared to ya and said stuff that went against your beliefs?

I remember pondering that and realized eons ago that I didn't want to argue with HIM about what's right and wrong, true and false, etc.  I saw within myself the propensity to disagree with my Maker and I shuddered and thought long and hard about the Pharisees.  They knew the scriptures but could not recognize the One who was the very expression of those words, even when He stood in their midst, Father God wrapped in a skin suit.

Enter many years of me grappling with that within myself in order to submit myself to God!

Now I take what I wrestled with then and apply it to different places in my life.  I also enjoy challenging others to take a look at their beliefs and allow God to show them where maybe they're off.  It happens so often I rarely take a minute to stop and record the quips.  

One I remember well.

To a pessimist I said, "Let's pretend the cup is half empty."

Note: no pessimist will admit they are one.  They will all say they are "realists."

I knew better.

I could tell he was going to like this conversation.  I was moving away from my usual chipper, positive exuberance into the nitty grit where he liked to dwell.

"Okay...so when you think about the empty part, how does that make you feel?"

I don't remember what he said for I am possibly a terrible friend.  Oh, and I was SO eager to finally get him with the point I knew his smart self could not argue.

"So the cup being half empty is TRUE...but it is also HALF FULL.  And whichever of those two realities you focus on will shift your emotions, feelings and make you have unpleasant or happy thoughts."

Going in for the final blow, I reminded him of the Old Testament reality which my Dad had relentlessly hammered into me from Deuteronomy (though he never told me where the principle came from):  YOU GET TO CHOOSE!

"It's both.  Half full and half empty.  YOU GET TO CHOOSE how you look at it."

Now this guy is someone I consider one of the most intellectual people I have ever met...with a mind like a ...well, I dunno what.  He's brilliant though...and in that moment guess what?  I had put something before him he could not argue into smithereens.  

Not only did it feel GREAT to be right and to be heard, it was amazing watching him change his own life over the years as he was finally able to let a lot of fears and other crud fall to the wayside.

I don't know if this is a key to affecting the religious spirit, but it sure does get under the skin of some pretty awesome people.  I always am grateful for my Dad's wisdom to my non-reality self and the way God sets before all of us each day life and death and then respects what we choose.

Kate Mazur
Benzie County, Michigan
May 2018