Perceptions

Australia is going through an amazing storm right now. Not rain, but dust. The skies over Sydney are orange with the dust from the outback in the air. Apparently winds from the central part of the country have blown eastward and the dust from the outback has colored the sky over most of the eastern coast.

Now, if you have read my blog long enough you know I'm going to try to make something spiritual out of this....and I am. I'm sorry, I can't help it. A normally blue sky is now a dusty orange in Sydney because of something that has happened to them. It wasn't their fault, but it's affected them anyway. Now, all they see are orange skies. It's reality in nature, but it happens to us in different ways. It is literally true that what others around us do impacts us. Our perceptions and how we see things are changed by the lives of others. An alcoholic father changes the colors of life for a child. An abusive mother distorts reality for her children. A cruel or unloving mate changes how we view ourselves. Our peers at school can turn against us and make us feel fat, unloved, or outcast. Our perceptions of our world are changed by what others do. Our skies go from blue to orange and we lose sight of how the skies of our lives should really look.

What we see because of these influences is real to us, but it's not the way it should be. We see orange skies, but they are supposed to be blue. How can these changes in our reality be put right? How can we get our vision of things set back to a correct view of life? As I talk to people and help many with their life issues it's clear to me that the influence of others affects the perception of all of us. We see things differently than we should because of abuse, anger, loss of love, perception of what things should be like. Our vision of reality is messed up and now we see orange when we should see blue.

How can we correct our perceptions? How can we get a "blue sky view" again? It comes from time in God's word. My question to people who are seeing orange is first to ask them, "Are you reading God's word?" I know their answer, it's always the same, "No, but I know I need to be...." And their voice fades off to a whisper. Let me share with you the way to correct your wrong perceptions on reality. The way to change your orange skies to blue again- Read God's word! Get in it daily, absorb yourself in it. Memorize scriptures, make it part of your life. It will clear the dust from your eyes, it will correct your wrong perspectives, it will make your skies blue again. Perceptions can become reality unless we have a way to see clearly. God's word is the corrective lens for a world gone orange.