During a message on sacrificing personal desires in order to make a difference in someone else’s life a friend of mine used a personal illustration.
He shared about a time when he’d had a REALLY bad day. Multiple people were angry with him. His son was in a fight at school, ended up in urgent care, and the car died on the way to the doctor.
In order to “de-stress” he went to the gym. He was in the middle of his workout when someone from the community recognized him as “the preacher.”
“Hey, preacher, I need you to pray for . . .” and the person began giving details of a personal story.
My friend didn’t stop his workout but did listen to the gentleman.
My colleague confessed to the church that he was frustrated because someone “needed” him and really, in that moment/space and time he just wanted to “be.” He didn’t want to be “the preacher.” Yet, to his point, sometimes we have to overlook our own needs so that we can try to offer love to/for someone in and through their needs.
But – that message illustration was the catalyst for someone to complain about how he didn’t care about people.
That gentleman missed my friend’s entire point.
What if we start daring ourselves to see others differently? What if we dare ourselves to look for the good, even if it means we have to dive deeper through some of our perceptions?
What if we focus not on what we see but instead how we see?
Our inner happiness, peace, and engagement with humanity is strongly shaped by how we choose to see.
Maybe we can dare to see positively?