Day 5: Seeing Life from God's View

The 2nd quote at the front of the chatper from Anaïs Nin struck me as completely relevant and unbelievably simple:  "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."  This couldn't be more clear to me from my conversation with my wife this morning, where we spent a fair amount of time hashing out a conversation she had with her mother and her sister.  She didn't take the words that came her way at face value; she added her own interpretation and meaning to the words beyond what they literally meant.

I like this sentence, "To fulfill the purposes God made for you, you will have to challenge conventional wisdom and replace it with the biblical metaphors of life."  Specifically, I like it even more when I read it as, "To fulfill the purposes..., you will have to challenge conventional wisdom..."  The interesting thing here is what we define as "conventional".

The word "conventional" to me implies a quality of being commonplace or commonly accepted.  Merriam-Webster provides one definition that is simply, "ordinary, commonplace".  Ironically, this word changes completely based on the quote I mentioned earlier, based on who we are.  For example, from Rick Warren's perspective, he may have wanted "conventional wisdom" to refer to the wisdom of mainstream atheism or non-Christian religions.  From my perspective, "conventional wisdom" could very well refer to the wisdom of Christianity, which dramatically changes the object being challenged.  Rick probably wouldn't appreciate this change in perspective, but regardless I'm thankful he brings up the notion of challenging the status quo.

I think I'm finally starting to get into something meatier than simply trusting that God has a plan for me, in this chapter.  The proposed ideas behind purpose-driven living are that life is a test, a trust and a temporary assignment, all metaphors from the Bible (according to the chapter).

"You are always being tested."  I found this statement to be very interesting.  As I read more, I reached, "Even the smallest incident has significance for your character development."  My reading of this passage just coincided with a question or distraction on my mind of whether or not I should go to the kitchen and find more snacks to eat, knowing that I'm well fed, that I'm not hungry and that if I eat more food, especially snacks, the extra calories will only hurt me in the long run.  Suddenly feeling like I'm being tested, I decided to continue reading and ignore the urge to snack.

One interesting thing to note is that if God is constantly testing people, there is no logical way to believe that God has a master plan for all of us, or to believe in predestination.  Do I make sense with this statement?  I wonder what Christians think.

The notion that life is a "trust" is now explained, and I'm starting to see where this is going.  I was curious where Rick was going with this metaphor, and now I think I understand that he meant for us readers to treat everything around us with respect, as if we were assigned as the caretakers of a very important something.  I especially liked the Biblical quote, "Those who are trusted with something valuable must show that they are worthy of that trust" (Corinthians 4:2).

I find the point Rick makes about how we use money being a test to be very intriguing.  How are we supposed to use money?  It seems pretty obvious to me that people born poor will use money very differently from people born rich, simply because of being born into different lifestyles.  If being poor or being rich shouldn't matter, then how are we supposed to use money?  Or does being poor or being rich actually matter in terms of how we're supposed to use money?

Points to Ponder: Life is a test and a trust.

I've pondered these points in fair detail as I was reading, I think.  Overall I agree with this point.

Question to Consider: What has happened to me recently that I now realize was a test from God? What are the greatest matters God has entrusted to me?

Well, if everything is a test, then... everything in the past hour on my way home from work was a test.  Notably, as I was walking past a music college on my way to the subway station, I saw some pieces of trash on the ground, floating by.  I thought to myself, partly reflecting on the "Why Every Monday Matters" article, "Hey, Marty, you should really pick up that trash and throw it away in the trash can 2 feet away."  But for some reason I walked by without doing anything.  However, 5 feet later I saw another piece of trash on the ground, and this time I finally decided to pick it up, backtrack to the trash can and throw away the trash.  No, I didn't return to the first batch of litter and take care of those items.

I wonder how I scored...?

The greatest matters that have been entrusted to me, at this moment, are probably the wellbeing of my wife and my friend from the Midwest.  Beyond that, the general wellbeing of my organization is also on my mind.  I don't know what to do about my wife at the moment.  I've talked out a possible plan of action with my friend, and I have made mental arrangements about how to make sure I don't leave my organization in a lurch.  I need to think of something to do for my wife.