Perceptions

I’m not in the habit of posting YouTube videos here, but this one seemed like a great illustration of an important lesson. Have a look first before reading on below, or the rest won’t make sense.

Susan Boyle

If i’m honest,  i’d have to admit my first reactions to seeing this rather plain, unemployed middle-aged woman who lives alone in a small village in England were no different than many in the audience (of course, the producers of the show played up this angle a bit). I couldn’t help thinking of 1 Sam 16:7 and how many people i walk by each day who look like nothing on the outside but have a tremendous gift inside, if only i could perceive it.

Our brains are wired to work this way: we make thousands of quick judgments throughout the day based on what we see, and we’d have a hard time coping with the complexity of life without this ability. But precisely because of this tendency, we need to constantly guard against persisting in these perceptions, when instead we should take the time to listen.

[hat tip to my sister-in-law Doreen for passing this along to us: thanks a lot for making us cry first thing in the day!]