Perception

Perception is the art of sensing something, and then deducing what you have seen or smelt or felt. It is aligning the ears, eyes, nose with an internal lens. It is upon the interpretation that a conclusion and coloring comes. The issue is that deduction can be layered with different lenses. My lens can be different from yours. People have rosy lenses, some have grim or violent lenses. This can be situational, maybe due to childhood pain or insecurity, culture, alliances, or even deception.

So what does this mean? And what is the impact of us having the wrong lens on our understanding of life? How do you understand life? How do you make meaning of what you see, hear and feel? How do you navigate your existence ensuring that you are making life decisions based on truth and fairness? That is a question I often ask myself. “Linda, why did you think this way, or why did you do a , b, or c?” Retrospection is vital to improvement, and so if we want to improve in our life choices, it is important that we ponder on why we have the understanding that we have.

I am particularly impressed upon by Prophet Isaiah’s words that are referenced again in Matthew 13:14-15 which says:

14 “‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding;
you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
15 For this people’s heart has become calloused;
they hardly hear with their ears,
and they have closed their eyes.
Otherwise they might see with their eyes,
hear with their ears,
understand with their hearts
and turn, and I would heal them.

I believe this poses a question for us at this time; what are we really seeing? What are we really hearing? What are we paying attention to and how are we interpreting life? Are you understanding what you hear today when you read a book, listen to a news broadcast, attend church, talk to your neighbor, catch lunch with your co-worker or spend time with your family and friends? Are your lenses interpreting appropriately without any influence from peer, culture, or political bias? Is your lens aligned with the heart of God? Is your eye seeing according to God’s love, kindness and truth? Is your heart receiving life as it should? I encourage you to become dissatisfied with not seeing, not hearing, and not understanding. I encourage you to reject status quo and turn. In fact I have become convinced that in order to see, hear and understand well, I will have to turn; turn from childhood pain or insecurity, culture, alliances, or even deception. Turn from what intentionally maintains that calloused heart. It might be painful to turn from group thinking, but turning we must do in order for God to heal us.

What I fear above all is that my heart become so calloused such that it is no longer tender to the truth of God. I hate that my heart will be so influenced that I cannot show mercy, love, compassion or even understand others’ pain or truth. I pray always for my heart to stay soft, yielded, teachable, long-suffering with others so that I can see, hear and understand. It is easy to live one’s christian life without truly seeing, hearing or understanding. That will be such a wasted opportunity for me. And so I hope as I yield myself and pursue God’s heart, that my eyes open, ears open and heart opens to truly truly see, hear and understand according to God’s love.

I hope the same for you as you read this article!

Linda Faith
Linda is a prolific writer. Her body of work includes inspiring poems, fictional books, and Christian living empowering books. You can find her work on www.amazon.com. Linda is also the pioneer of Joy Women, a platform she employs to inspire women all over the world to be all God has destined them to be. Read more about Linda at www.lindafaith.org.