Rose-Tinted Glasses

There’s this saying that goes: 'to look at something (like the world or the past) through “rose-tinted glasses”'. My English teacher would kill me for using Wikipedia, but according to good ole’ Wiki, that means looking at something in a “positive” or “optimistic” way.

All too often I find that it’s easy to look at the past like this: it seems like we remember all the good bits and tend to forget the bad. Now normally I’m a very optimistic person and I don’t generally dwell on the negatives, but the older I get the more I realize how important those “negative” bits actually are. Not in the sense that we should put Sam Smith or Adele full blast on the radio while reading sad quotes and going through 5 million tissues and squashing a teddy-bear, but I mean more in the sense that we take notice of the negatives and really digest what we learnt from them.

Digest? Yup, that’s the right word. We should really take in and ingest these situations, deal with them, and then get rid of all the toxic stuff and absorb the nutrients. Phew, don’t know if that analogy was Shakespeare material or Jack Parow lyrics!

One of my favourite Bible verses, John 16:33, says "I have told you these things, so that in Me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world."
The Bible does not promise us an easy road, in fact, 1 Peter 4:12 says “Dear friends, do not be surprised at the fiery ordeal that has come on you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you.” The key phrase being “do not be surprised”.
We are going to go through hard times and times of testing, but like verse 13 says: “But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed.”

Okay, so now you’re probably wondering what that has to do with rose-tined glasses, right? Well if you weren’t, I bet you’re wondering that now ;)

I find too often in life when we look at the past, we remember the good and forget the bad, which means we often forget the lessons we learned and end up repeating the same mistakes. I am so guilty of this. Maybe you forget how easy it is to not guard your heart, so you end up hurting yourself or someone else because of that. Maybe you forget how overdoing work or exercise or something else that “seems” good can actually lead to a loss of relationships or negative shift in focus. Maybe you forget that not balancing social, work and spiritual life can cause unnecessary stress and feelings of sadness and loneliness. It’s all so easy to forget the bad feelings, and I’m not encouraging you to harbor on these bad feelings and obsess over them: NO.  Even Isaiah 43:18 says, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past.” I actually read a saying on a wall the other day that said “Forget the mistake, remember the lesson”.

When we dwell on these past mistakes, hardships or miserable feelings, we get stuck in a hole and don’t move on. Without moving on, you can’t discover new things or experience different things. The verse in Isaiah goes on to say, “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?”
God is continually on the move, putting new things in your path to grow you as a person and to change your perception. However, we are so often stuck on things that happened in our past that we don’t even notice the new, beautiful world passing us by.

Think about it. Imagine you had a Starbucks coffee that you just didn’t enjoy, but instead of trying the coffee shop a little further down the road, you decided to stand outside the Starbucks window the whole day and complain to everyone passing by how gross that coffee was. Uhm okay Susan, take a seat please.

We limit ourselves in life. If you refuse to move on, then you will be stuck in the same annoying cycle. Yes, things won’t always work out and disappointment will come, but you’ll never know unless you try. I just want to emphasise that. I’m not sure if I can say this in a Christian-based blog (sorry God, next time I’ll be nice hehe), but I get so annoyed when people say they hate where they are in life or they’re so unhappy in what they’re doing, but then do nothing to change it. Look, I love you, but if you aren’t going to try look for other jobs or think creatively or ask advice and actually take it, then you’re putting a limit on your own situation. And no, I’m not naïve. Sometimes you can apply for 100 jobs or try 100 new things and it won’t work out, but God will see your perseverance and He will honour you for that. The key is to remember that He will honour you in HIS time and according to HIS purpose. Isaiah 55:8-9, ““For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the Lord. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.”

Romans 5:3-5 says, “Not only so, but we also glory in our sufferings, because we know that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance, character; and character, hope. And hope does not put us to shame, because God’s love has been poured out into our hearts through the Holy Spirit, who has been given to us.”

Don’t give up. Please, that is my urge to you. No matter what you’ve been through or what is going on right now, remember what you’ve learnt and use that to help others or to deal better in a similar situation in the future.

You are so much more powerful than you think and if you really apply your mind and give the situation to God, I give you a money-back guarantee that it will work out in the best possible way for you. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like it in the moment, trust me, I know; but when you look back you will see how everything pieced together in just the perfect way.

Take 2 Corinthians 12:9 and keep it near you, because this is one for the books:

“But He said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

You’re amazing. You’ve got God and His power on your side. Tell the devil to “voetsek” and go live the life you were meant to live.

Amen.