PERCEPTION

“For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he...” (from Proverbs 23:7)

On Thursday, one of our church’s senior citizens asked me if I’d consider changing the seating arrangement that I use for our Wednesday night prayer meetings.  She has trouble hearing and could not hear everything that some people were saying.  Up until probably about a year ago, we used to have the chairs in a large circle.  I now have them in two straight rows facing each other.  One of the reasons I made that change is that I am the one who sets the chairs up, and the straight row setup is actually a LOT easier for me to do.  But also, I encourage the people to begin filling in the chairs at one end of the rows, and generally people are sitting CLOSER TOGETHER in this setup than was the case with the old circle setup!  I explained to that senior citizen that she’s actually sitting closer to most people now than under the old setup!  (Incidentally, I know it can be dangerous writing about people behind their backs, but I know that this lady regularly reads my blog and has a very good relationship with me, so I’m sure sharing this story will not be a problem!)  I explained to her that I could understand why she would perceive people as being farther away from her than in the past, but that it’s really not the case.  It’s a matter of PERCEPTION.

Perception is a funny thing.  For instance, which city would you think is closer to Atlanta, Georgia:  Miami, Florida or Indianapolis, Indiana?  I think most of us off the top of our heads would figure it’s Miami, since both cities are in southeastern states which border each other.  In fact, Indianapolis, Indiana is considerably closer to Atlanta, Georgia than is Miami, Florida!  Indianapolis is also slightly closer to Atlanta than is Orlando, Florida!  

During my daughter Amy’s graduation festivities from Evangel University in May of 2007, the school seated us with people they figured “lived near” us- so at our table was a couple from Buffalo, New York.  That makes sense, doesn’t it?  Anybody from Springfield, Missouri WOULD think of Buffalo, New York and Boston, Massachusetts as being close together.  In fact, Buffalo is much closer (for instance)  to Cleveland, Ohio or Fort Wayne, Indiana.  Even Chicago is ALMOST as close to Buffalo as is Boston!  Again, it’s PERCEPTION.

I’ve (seriously) been asked if time is moving faster as we’re getting closer to the Second Coming of Christ.  Without a doubt, time SEEMS to go by faster as we get older.  To me, events of fifteen years ago SEEM like they happened a couple of years ago.  When I was a child, two years seemed like, well, two CENTURIES!  It seemed to take FOREVER for me to go through Grades 1-6.  FOREVER!  Even now as I think back on it, that six years or so SEEMS like it was at LEAST sixteen years.  But the past fifteen years seem like two!  It’s all PERCEPTION.  When you’re a ten-year-old, a year is a tenth of your whole life.  It’s a long time.  When you’re fifty-three, a year is, well, no big deal!  

Sometimes I’ll say to my wife something like, “We’ve got to get an inspection sticker on the car this month.” and she will reply, “We JUST got the car inspected.”

“No,” I will say, “We got it inspected a year ago.”  She will be incredulous.  I’m using her as an example, but I do the SAME kind of thing all the time!

It’s like that drawing they show you in “Intro. to Psychology” class in college.  The question is, “Do you see a young woman, or do you see an old woman?”  Usually about half see one and half see the other.  They’re BOTH there- but you’ve got to look for them....it’s kind of an optical illusion.  It’s like the logo for an animal hospital on Concord Street, Framingham, near where I live. Their logo is another one of those, “Which do you see?” things.  Some people see a dog and some see a cat.

Have you got strong opinions and do you get all hot and aggravated about what you believe?  Be careful, your PERCEPTION may be off.  My maternal grandfather died in 1960 when I was a little kid.  I only faintly remember him.  He was six feet tall (tall for a French Canadian), smoked a pipe regularly, and was always “popping” Smith Brothers wild cherry cough drops.  My mother often told me one of my Grandpa’s favorite expressions was, “Things are not as they seem”.

Indeed, things are (often) NOT as they seem!       PERCEPTION!