Lenses

Back in the late 70s, there was a country song called Rose Colored Glasses that was both touching and goofy.  Frankly, most country music from the 70s was goofy - (Convoy and Third Rate Romance spring to mind).  But somehow, the song about the rose-colored glasses has been lodged in my brain since adolescence.

The lenses infer that circumstances are worse than they appear - that the wearer of the glasses is seeing a rosier picture than is actually in front of them.  I interpreted this to mean that the wearer is a deluded idiot who isn't willing to face reality. 

So - at some point, I made up my own version of the lyrics about my poop-colored glasses.

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I enjoy etymology.  I always have to think carefully before typing that out so as not to profess an affection for bugs (entomology).  No, I am fond of words - the study of them and where they came from.  It's less about definition and more about history, although the history of a word's construction gives us a map of how it came to mean what it means today.

Such it is with the word "perspective".  I love this word.  "Per-" is a Latin word that means thoroughly, utterly.  "-Spective" comes from Latin as well, from the word inspectus, which means "to look into". 

Over the last few months, I have been utterly and thoroughly looking through poop-colored glasses, into things outside my control (i.e., everything) and loudly declaring defeat.  I forfeit, I concede victory, I am vanquished and my ass is officially kicked.  Uncle, already.  UNCLE!

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Henry David Thoreau once said, "The question is not what you look at, but what you see." 

Stephen Covey, quoting the Talmud and explaining the principle of paradigm, said, "We see the world not as it is, but as we are."

I'm not as insightful as Thoreau or Covey or Hebrew scripture, but I am smart enough to figure out that we are all talking about perspective.  The way I see the world or my circumstances is as important as what is there to be seen.  But if rose-colored glasses represent false optimism, and poop-colored glasses are Debbie Downer negativism, then how does one see things clearly?
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Hope-colored glasses.  That's what we need.  Seeing circumstances, be they tragic or joyous, through a hopeful lens is neither naïve or disingenuous.  Left to my own devices, I will pick up the poop-colored pair, but faith is the best optometrist of all.  Not faith that I will get my way, or that everything will work out according to my master plan... but faith in a loving God whose ways aren't my ways (and honestly, I'm thankful they're not.) 


Therefore - today I am looking at 2015 through hope-colored glasses.   Would you like a pair, too?