Stepping Stones: Grandma’s Vision Ain’t So Good

Transformational Thought

Dominique, my oldest daughter is moving into a house just off campus at University of Pittsburgh. She’s already had enough of dorm partying and is moving in with two Christian girls. She and Martine are leaving tonight to take some furniture and clean up. They will stay with my cousin, Chuckie. Pitt is 45 minutes from where my parents and I were born. I haven’t lived there in almost 40 years, but I still have many relatives there. It has been great staying with my cousin Chuckie and catching up with some other relatives that I see sporadically over the years.

One stop is always to my little Granny Guzy’s house. Wow! So many memories as I ride up the hill to her house above the Monongahela River. She pinches my cheeks, calls me junior, (ever since I can remember she never called me Karl), makes me 2 huge sandwiches or perogies, and buys me sugar pops for breakfast. She sees me like I am still 8 years old. And it’s very hard to see myself accurately - as a 48 y.o. adult, a professional, a husband and father - when I’m being perceived through lenses that portray me as an 8 y.o.

So, how do you see yourself? If you are looking through your own eyes, chances are you will not like what you see. Satan, the Great Deceiver, wants us to see ourselves as alone, unloved, unwanted, unable to tolerate pain, and needing his quick fix for our problems. Sometimes our fleshly lenses skew our self-evaluation to the other end of the spectrum and we see ourselves as King of our world, much better than we really are, entitled to way more than we really deserve. You know the mentality, “My kingdom come, My will be done.”

Try seeing yourself through the clearest, most accurate lenses of all, the eyes of God … see yourself as someone who is deeply loved and valued. Healing, comfort, protection, and peace are abundantly provided, but we need to seek them and steward them well. Immerse yourself in God’s Holy Bible, a tremendous story about God’s love for you. Read and see just how much He loves you. He offers you more love, peace, wisdom, and protection than you could ever get from Satan’s world system.

Today, look in the mirror and evaluate your base, knee-jerk view of yourself. Then, perhaps while in the bathroom, read Luke 1:26 – 2:21 (the Christmas Story) and John 18, 19 & 20 (the Easter story). Don’t say, “I know these stories, I can skip the reading” … READ THEM. They are short. Use this time to see yourself thru God’s lenses. You will clear your eyes and head quickly. Your decision, your lenses or God’s. Choose well!

Prayer
Dear Father, You are the peak of all my desires and all my hopes. You are the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last: who is, and was, and is to come. You have brought so many pleasures and blessings into my life. Thank You, Jesus. I receive Your gifts with open arms, but help me, my God, to not cling to these gifts. At times I cling to the gifts and am fearful that I might lose them. But what a peaceful thought to know that the only thing I absolutely need is the one thing I can never lose: Your presence in me. Thank You, Jesus. Today, I try to see myself through Your eyes. Through Your eyes I see myself as someone who is deeply loved and protected by Your presence, which shields me from all evil. I pray in Jesus’ never-ending name; and all God’s children say - AMEN!

The Truth
"I am the Alpha and the Omega," says the Lord God, "who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty."
Revelation 1:8

Find rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken. My salvation and my honor depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.
Psalm 62:5-8