The PURSE-onality Challenge: perspective

It's Warm-Up Week for October's PURSE-onality Challenge: "A Holiday-Ready Heart"! Here's a handy checklist to make sure you're all ready. (And if you're a blogger, grab the button on the right, let me know you've added it to your site, and I'll add you to my blogroll!)

This week's give-away is for The Best Christmas Pageant Ever. (It's a Gregory Family tradition to have Daniel read this aloud to us every Christmas Eve...and for him to choke up at the end!) 3 names will be drawn -- enter via the Rafflecopter at the end of the blog post or click here to enter!

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(Can't view the vlog? Click here to see it directly via YouTube! No time to watch? Scroll down to read the blog!)

Today’s title question comes from me getting stuck while trying to read through John 11.

The first place I got stuck was at verse 16. All my life, the one word I’ve associated with the disciple Thomas is “doubting.”

But here, after all the other disciples have urged Jesus not to go where people are planning to kill him, Thomas says to them, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

Putting this into a headline, I’ve always thought of Thomas as a rather negative one:

THOMAS DOUBTS

Somehow I’ve missed this headline, which reveals some amazing courage:

THOMAS OFFERS TO DIE

I got stuck again in verses 36 and 37. Jesus sees Mary mourning, and he begins to weep. Verse 36 tells us, “Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!” but verse 37 gives a very different perspective: “But some of them said, Could not he who opened th eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

Two vastly different headlines:

JESUS’ POWER IN QUESTION:

Why No Miracle This Time?

JESUS’ LOVE TOO STRONG FOR WORDS: He Weeps With Mourners

So back to the question: What headlines lead our lives?

Especially when both versions are true. We have a choice.

I’m working on memorizing Colossians 3:15-17. You’ll notice a common thread connecting all three verses: thankful, gratitude, giving thanks.

Now this is in total opposition to what happens in modern media. You’ve probably heard the phrase “if it bleeds it leads.” And if we buy into that philosophy, then our holiday headlines might read:

STORES CROWDED WITH RUDE SHOPPERS

FAMILY BUDGET STRETCHED BEYOND CAPACITY

COMMERCIALIZATION DESTROYS TRUE MEANING OF CHRISTMAS

Each of these will likely be true.

I’m also trying to memorize Colossians 2:6-7, and I love the last phrase: overflowing with thankfulness!

So back to the question: What headlines lead our lives?

During October, I’m going to focus on leading with thanks-giving, well before the holidays hit. Because I know that whatever habits I have before the holidays are the habits that will stay with me–and even get magnified–during the Christmas season.

So here are a few thanks-giving headlines leading my life right now:

CAT WITH BROKEN LEG FULLY RECOVERS

Our little cat Dusty dislocated a leg bone in June, and for a couple of months, we didn’t know if she would recover. We feared she’d end up lame. But since the cast came off, she’s been as good as new, able to leap to the top of the fence and chase the dog to her heart’s content!

I’m trying to be intentional, each time I see one of our three cats, to let a headline of thanks-giving lead my life. To pause to be in awe of God’s creative, re-creative, and restorative power in Dusty’s lie...and especially in mine!

TEACHER COMPLETES MASTERS DEGREE

I almost didn’t share this one for two reasons. First, it sounds like I’m bragging. No idea how to handle that. Second, I was really embarrassed that it took me so long: 7 years! So when people congratulated me, I shrugged it off by saying, “FINALLY...it was about time!”

But then I realized that we do this with our positive headlines. We downplay them, negate them, or don’t even share them. In my case, God has blessed me so much in the last couple of years with important insights and key people who have helped me finish my degree, I need a headline of thanks to lead my life! I praise God that I am done!

COUPLE CELEBRATES 24th WEDDING ANNIVERSARY

On September 11, Daniel and I started our silver year of marriage. It’s all by God’s grace that we’re still together; we have opposite PURSE-onalities, and we’re both pretty high-maintenance people. When I see him in the morning and in the evening, I’m reminded to have a headline of thanks-giving lead my life.

So back, once more, to the question: What headlines lead our lives?

And more specifically: What headlines lead my holidays?

That’s the question I’m going to be asking myself as I wear (and switch!) my “A Holiday-Ready Heart” bracelet in October.

Yes, I’ll aim to avoid complaining, criticizing, gossipping, and using sarcasm just like in May.

But now I realize that those are just outward manifestations of the “headline” that is currently leading my life.

And the more I practice leading with thanks-giving, the more “holiday ready” my heart will become!

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(Can't view image? Click here to download 1 Corinthians 13:6!)

But what is “the truth”?

Not “The Truth.”

Just “the truth” in our everyday ordinaries.

Can you find “the truth,” for example, in the following "Tale of 3 Thunderstorms"?

My Thunderstorm

I’ve stayed up too late. (Again!) As I finally drift off to sleep…

BOOM!

A peal of thunder jolts me awake.

Sure, the weather channel predicted this. But really? At midnight? Come on! It’s the last month of school.

I. need. my. sleep.

BOOM!

Another crash, right above our house. The wind rattles our windows. Lightening flashes over and over.

In a few minutes, the storm dies down, reduced to the comforting sound of falling rain. I start to drift off again.

BOOM!

Not again?

BOOM!

Yes, again.

For what feels like hours, two storm fronts battle it out over our house. The noise dies does just long enough for me to start falling asleep before...

BOOM!

I’m awakened again, adrenaline pumping.

It is a Very. Bad. Night.

Maria’s Thunderstorm

I drag my carcass out of bed with the 5:30 AM alarm (a.k.a. Three cats who want the garage door open now. The same three cats who will soon dash back in, dripping wet and furious that we “threw them out in the rain”!)

I check Facebook and notice that my neighbor Maria has posted about last night’s thunderstorm.

“Last night’s thunder and lightning storm was amazing. My son and I drove out to the bluff to see the lightning bolts. What a beautiful light show!”

Amazing? Beautiful light show?

What is she talking about? All that lightening kept me from sleeping! I could see it with my eyes closed!

Someone asked, “Weren’t you scared?” to which she replied

“Oh yeah. I was scared. That was part of the excitement! We even drove to Manresa for a better view. The grand finale was amazing!”

Excitement?

Grand finale?

Amazing?

Clearly I won’t be going to Maria for sympathy today!

Erik’s Thunderstorm

Instead, I turn to my English II students. Certainly they lost sleep to this awful storm! Certainly they will commiserate with me!

“So,” I bait them, “did anyone lose some precious sleep last night?”

A chorus of complaints assures me I’ve turned to the right peeps for support. (Misery sure does love company!)

We all talk at once, gesturing animatedly to emphasize the loudness of the thunder, the brightness of the lightening, and the repeated adrenaline overloads to which we were subjected all night long.

Then Erik, who has not joined the conversation, raises his hand.

“You know, Mrs. G,” he says, fingering his hearing aid, “some people would give anything to hear a thunderstorm at night.”

3 Tales of 1 Thunderstorm

What is “the truth” about this thunderstorm?

That it caused a Very. Bad. Night?

That’s one perspective.

That it gave a dazzling light show?

That’s a different perspective.

That it served as a reminder to be thankful?

That’s yet another perspective.

What is “the truth”?

The Story I Tell Myself

Perspective defines "the truth."

When I am judgmental, I see only one perspective: mine. My “truth” is limited to the one story I am telling myself:

The thunderstorm caused a Very. Bad. Night. End of story.

When I am curious, I am open to multiple perspectives. My “truth” expands, allowing for greater creativity:

Next thunderstorm, maybe Maria can pick up me.

(Hey, if I’m gonna miss sleep, I’d rather tell cool stories about lightening than whine about lost sleep!)

And maybe we can swing by Erik’s house so he doesn’t miss out on all the excitement this time.

What is “the truth”?

The stories that prompt rejoicing come closest to “the truth.”

And bring us closer to The Truth.

Try This Today: Against the “better” judgment of my perfectionistic tendencies, I invite you to watch this short video I made last year, illustrating in more detail what I mean by “the story I tell myself.”

(Can’t view the embedded video? Click the link go directly to “The Stories I Tell Myself”)

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Please leave a comment

responding to today’s blog, and/or

sharing your Day #1-17 experience of replacing “baditude” with God’s word and gratitude, and/or

about anything else on your heart!

The McD's -- you're the winner of Day 6!

Tara -- you're the winner of Day 10!

e-mail me at cheri@cherigregory.com w/your mailing address!

All other winners Days 1-11 have been notified & prizes sent.

Winners for Days 12-16 will be drawn and notified Friday!

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(Catch up on any "Warm-Up Week" Blog Posts!)

What "Headlines" Lead Our Lives?

Day 17: TRUTH