A Trained Eye
Hey Friends,
Do you have a trained eye? I read this cute story in a great book, Every Day a Friday:
A couple moved into a new neighborhood, and one morning while they were eating breakfast the wife looked out the window and saw her neighbor hanging wash on the line to dry. She noticed the wash was dingy and dirty. She said to her husband, “That neighbor lady doesn’t know how to wash. Her clothes aren’t clean. I wonder if she’s using any detergent?” Day after day went by and she would make the same comments: “I can’t believe the neighbor doesn’t know how to wash. I can’t believe they wear those dingy-looking clothes.” A few weeks later the woman looked out the window and the clothes were as clean and bright as could be. She was so surprised. She called her husband in and said, “Look, honey, I can’t believe it. She finally learned how to wash. I wonder what happened?” The husband smiled and said, “Honey, I got up early this morning and cleaned our window.”
It is easy to have a critical eye. It is easy to see everyone’s faults and problems. If you want to help people you need to train your eye to see the good in the people you know. Train yourself to see the strengths and to see people doing good things and celebrate those. There are enough people whose outlook is poisoned by a critical spirit. Don’t be one of those people.
You be the encourager. You be the one who finds the good in people. You be the one who points out the positive and you will be the one people want to be around, and you will help people more than you can ever know. Time to wash the windows of our souls and change our own outlooks. Jesus said, “Don’t try to take the speck out of your brother’s eye and forget the log in your own eye.”
No matter who you meet during your day you can find something positive to say. Let’s try to see people through the eyes of Jesus.
Just a thought.
Love ya,
Pastor Chris
2 Comments
We should be positive about ourselves too. Sometimes it’s easy to think, oh I can’t do this, I’m not good at computers, I can’t speak in front of a crowd, I can’t __________. We can be our own worst enemy without anyone else even speaking negativity into our lives.
Proverbs 27:2 says to let someone else praise you, so obviously God expects us to praise and compliment people to make fulfill that verse.
I love that story! And commenter mike is right-I tend to be my own worst critic and not even attempt something because I am afraid I will fail or not do as well as I wanted. I like the chapter in pastor’s book about how great people do great things because they attempt things even when afraid of failin or when others tell them it’s not possible.