The Lens We Use

Recently, I fell asleep in a recliner. When I woke up, I began to look around for my glasses and couldn’t find them. After a few minutes I realized they were on my face. I was wearing them the entire time. 

All of us view life through a lens. Some of us realize this and some of us don’t. Even if we do realize a lens is present, we still may not recognize how much our view on life is altered by it. That lens is formed by all the experiences we have had from conception to the present day. If we grew up in a home where violence was present, we may view the world as a violent place. If we grew up with criticism and judgement the world may appear to be harsh and unsafe. On the other hand, if we are surrounded by love, care, and understanding we may see the world as a welcoming, friendly place. Either way, the lens we have picked up through our experience really does affect the way we view life.

I have found it to be beneficial to stop on occasion and ask myself, is what I am experiencing truth, or am I seeing things through a lens that is skewing my perception of reality? For instance, am I avoiding attempting to try something new and perhaps a little difficult because I am looking through a lens that tells me that I am a failure, and I can’t do anything right? What if we begin to lay aside the lens that has presented a picture where we are broken, where we are a failure, or where we are less than? What if we choose to see the truth? We are a limited, needy, dependent people. We are each gifted in ways that are beneficial to ourselves and to the people around us. We are designed and created to live in community, where I offer my giftings to you and you offer your giftings to me and as we share those gifts, we are able to become and accomplish so much more than we could ever imagine on our own. 

A line from the Talmud says, “We do not see the world as it is, we see the world as we are.” If we can drop the lens that filters life through harm and fear of failure, then we can begin to see ourselves as people of hope and of promise, and as a result, the world becomes a place of hope and promise too.

If you have questions about what this process looks like, how does this process start, feel free to shoot me a message at rwcoaching2@gmail.com.