Perception...

Perception is reality, right?

What is perception anyways?

Noah Webster says this:

PERCEP'TION, n. [L. perceptio. See Perceive.]
1. The act of perceiving or of receiving impressions by the senses; or that act or process of the mind which makes known an external object. In other words, the notice which the mind takes of external objects. We gain a knowledge of the coldness and smoothness of marble by perception.
2. In philosophy, the faculty of perceiving; the faculty or peculiar part of man's constitution, by which he has knowledge through the medium or instrumentality of the bodily organs.
3. Notion; idea.
4. The state of being affected or capable of being affected by something external.

After I wrote that last post, things changed. Not because I wrote about my pain, but because I'd been (a lot of people had been) praying and I'd also been 'trying' to forgive, move forward, and let go of my perception of a situation that had occurred. I don't regret that I wrote the post as I now can look back and recall how big our God is; that He would come down, move on behalf of His children and bring restoration to a situation that looked impossible in the natural.

One of the most difficult things in life is broken relationships. Words spilling out that can never be taken back, as well as hearts and love shattered by sin and the consequences of bad choices. Yet none of these things is bigger than our Daddy's love and power.

My perception brought me turmoil, and all of that could have been alleviated had I taken my thoughts prisoner and not continued to speak what 'I' thought, but rather what the Truth was...Jesus is Lord and then followed that with His Words to me..."I will never leave you or forsake you"..."My peace I give to you, not as the world gives"..."Take my yoke and learn of Me for I am gentle and humble of heart and you will find rest for your souls"...and the promises go on and on...why didn't I do that? Why the insecurity that made me want to run away? Why was I afraid to be honest and go to the brother/sister/family member? Fear of rejection, being misunderstood, their perception of me?

Our adversary loves accusation...feeds on it and will throw fiery darts to separate us from Him and each other. But can the hand say to the arm, "I have no need of you?"

Paul said that love is the greatest thing ever...it's Love that helps us to grow up, love that gives us peace in a storm, Love that teaches us to lay down our lives for each other and pick our cross and follow Love itself.

...and it's love that strengthens us to go through the storm with each other and not abandon one another because of a breach or because we have to say something that we don't necessarily know how it will be perceived. Or perhaps because we need to hear the truth and allow the Holy Spirit to go to a place of pain in our own hearts. Love carries us to that place of victory and healing.

Jesus didn't take me away, He walked through it with me and is teaching me that He is my rock, my High tower and He's making me like Him.

I'd like to end with 1 Corinthians 13 from the Message Bible:

If I speak with human eloquence and angelic ecstasy but don't love, I'm nothing but the creaking of a rusty gate. 2If I speak God's Word with power, revealing all his mysteries and making everything plain as day, and if I have faith that says to a mountain, "Jump," and it jumps, but I don't love, I'm nothing. 3-7If I give everything I own to the poor and even go to the stake to be burned as a martyr, but I don't love, I've gotten nowhere.

So, no matter what I say, what I believe, and what I do, I'm bankrupt without love.

Love never gives up.

Love cares more for others than for self.

Love doesn't want what it doesn't have.

Love doesn't strut,

Doesn't have a swelled head,

Doesn't force itself on others,

Isn't always "me first,"

Doesn't fly off the handle,

Doesn't keep score of the sins of others,

Doesn't revel when others grovel,

Takes pleasure in the flowering of truth,

Puts up with anything,

Trusts God always,

Always looks for the best,

Never looks back,

But keeps going to the end.
Love never dies.

Inspired speech will be over some day; praying in tongues will end; understanding will reach its limit. We know only a portion of the truth, and what we say about God is always incomplete. But when the Complete arrives, our incompletes will be canceled.
11When I was an infant at my mother's breast, I gurgled and cooed like any infant. When I grew up, I left those infant ways for good.
12We don't yet see things clearly. We're squinting in a fog, peering through a mist. But it won't be long before the weather clears and the sun shines bright! We'll see it all then, see it all as clearly as God sees us, knowing him directly just as he knows us!
13But for right now, until that completeness, we have three things to do to lead us toward that consummation: Trust steadily in God, hope unswervingly, love extravagantly.

And the best of the three is love.