We See What We Want to See

I am a part of an organization that hands out printed material to hundreds of people every weekend. These hand-outs say a great deal about what our congregation of people believes and promotes. So, we take great care to put out the very best product we can. Last weekend we did our usual procedure for proof-reading the brochure. I gave a rough copy to someone in our office. The office person finalized the copy and sent it back to me. I did final tweaking and sent i back to the office. The office brought in another pair of eyes to look it over before final print. Everything was done according the procedure.

Only on Sunday did someone note that the cover of the hand-out had the title for the weekend before, not for last weekend. All of us who looked at the document with critical eyes ended up seeing what we assumed was there and what we wanted to be there, not in fact what was there!

To a large extent we see what we want to see. If we assume that human beings are basically self-centered, bad creatures, that's what we will tend to see in people. If we assume that people, faults and all, are creatures worthy of value, respect, and love, then that's what our sight will note. Some people of faith say we no longer live in a age of miracles, and that God just isn't active in the same way God was active once before. Yet there are other cultures on the face of the earth, even high-tech cultures, in which reports of the miraculous are almost commonplace, and people of faith contend that God is very deeply involved and active.

Could that be a matter of what we choose to see? What do you think? I'll see you around the next bend in the river. I see a great run through the rapids ahead!