Change Your Lens

Photography is amazing. I love to sit down with a National Geographic and admire the powerful images taken by some of the world’s most skilled photographers in some of the most varied and remote parts of the world. I enjoy taking pictures too, but I cannot call myself a “photographer” in comparison to the people who take the shots for N.G. and other beautiful magazines.

I use a little digital camera and rely on my computer to adjust lighting, color, and other aspects of a particular photograph. But with a more expensive camera, the beauty is in the lens. I’ve watched as a knowledgeable photographer has been shooting pictures and, in seeking a different image, has decided to change the lens. You get an entirely different picture when you change the lens.

Have you ever known someone who sees the world “through rose-colored glasses”? My sister is one of those. Christie sees the world filled with gorgeous light and she goes around filling the world with that light. It’s not that she doesn’t know about the dark corners of the world, but she’s chosen her rose-colored lens to view life and it has made her—and the many people who know her and her Rose Water Cottage industry—very happy.

By contrast, do you know people who see the world through a dark, gray lens—or whatever sort of lens would drain all the color from the world? They see every event as potentially hazardous and they view the people in their life as troublemakers and burdensome. They can drain all the energy and happiness out of a room just by walking into it.

They need to change their lens.

Life is hard sometimes. And that “sometimes” can stretch into a very long time. But we all choose with which lens we will view life. Will we view life through the “My parents / my siblings / my spouse never loved me” lens and allow that to color how we view everything else in the world? Will we choose the “I’m not as good-looking / wealthy / healthy / strong / popular / educated as so-and-so” lens and use that to excuse our lack of effort in every area? Will we use the “My heart was broken” lens to keep us from ever trusting to love again?

I know this may be messing too close to home…stepping on toes here. I know that because this is something I’ve had to deal with…many things I’ve had to let go of in my own life. Bitterness I held onto for way too long that began to eat away at the joy and the grace everywhere else in my life.

So consider the lens the psalmist was looking for when he wrote this:

My tears have been my food day and night,
while people say to me all day long,
    “Where is your God?”
These things I remember as I pour out my soul:
how I used to go to the house of God
    under the protection of the 

    Mighty One
with shouts of joy and praise
    among the festive throng.

Why, my soul, are you downcast?
    Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
    for I will yet praise him,
    my Savior and my God. 

    (Ps. 42:3-5)

This is the sound of a lens being changed. This is the “hope” lens being put into place. And when we look through the lens of hope, everything looks better.

 

Learning to Follow

My bed is seldom made up. I resist getting up early, setting most of my appointments for early afternoon if possible. Exercise and I have a love-hate relationship; I love the results but hate to sweat. Only on rare occasions do I see the bottom of the laundry basket or totally empty sinks. I'm a musician at heart and a bookworm at brain and unless it pertains to music or reading, it tends to go untended. 

In other words, I'm not what you might call "disciplined." At least, not in every area of my life. At least, not until you get down to the real meaning of the word.

The word discipline shares its origins with the word disciple. That root word is about learning. Jesus called his disciples to come learn who he was, to understand his teachings, to follow him. Jesus' disciples learned him.

What happened after Jesus called his disciples? Actually, he originally called the first 12 apostles, the leaders who were with him constantly, but gradually more disciples began to gather around and follow him. So did he set up a school? Did they all start going to class to sit around and discuss the scriptures from Jesus' point of view? That might have been a wonderful use of their time...is that how Jesus chose to discipline them?

Jesus went through all the towns and villages, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom and healing every disease and sickness. When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd. Then he said to his disciples, “The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into his harvest field.” (Matthew 9:35-38)

Of course Jesus spent time teaching his disciples (see the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 5-7) and letting them know what his "work" looked like. But he knew the learning took place out among the crowds, working the "harvest." Jesus saw people who were harassed and helpless. He called his disciples out into the field to work with him.


If we are Jesus' disciples, we are learning to follow him daily. Our discipline isn't about following rules or being "better" Christians; it's about making ways in our lives to learn better how to work in the fields. And remember that when God disciplines us, that's not about punishment...that's about his teaching us:

Blessed is the one you discipline, Lord,
    the one you teach from your law; 
you grant them relief from days of trouble,
    till a pit is dug for the wicked. 
For the Lord will not reject his people;
    he will never forsake his inheritance. 
Judgment will again be founded on righteousness,    and all the upright in heart will follow it.  
(Psalm 94:12-15, emphasis added)

So how will Jesus disciple you today?