Perception is reality
There’s a statement that will turn some heads.? I don’t believe that perception is reality although it can be, it certainly isn’t an absolute.? We do have to deal with people’s perceptions and to them, often times their perceptions do constitute a reality.
What??? I discovered recently that my children don’t always see things as I would believe they should see them, they don’t even necessarily see them as they are, but they see them as they think they are.? This shouldn’t be a revelation, I’ve been a father for 20 years, and have 8 children, I should have picked up on this earlier.? The incident that opened my eyes occurred a few days ago.? I was sitting with my laptop in the living room, I was reading the book of Acts in my Logos software, I had 5 commentaries, a couple of bible dictionaries and some other resources open, I was deep in thought.
A couple of the kids were still awake and they asked me if they could play a computer game.? I, in responsible fatherly fashion, said, “no it’s almost bedtime you don’t need to be messin’ with? that junk, the computer isn’t for playing games.”? One of my fine youngsters looked at me and said, “why do you get to play on the computer all the time?”? Now there are a number of things that could be (and were) taken from this exchange but, my focus was the fact that they perceived my time of study as play time.? If I had a paper Bible and a bunch of books laid out around me the exchange would not have occurred, there perception would likely have aligned with the reality that I was studying.? Instead, their perception was that I was playing (I don’t play games) or at the very least recreationally surfing (I may surf a bit) on the computer.
I started to wonder, how many other things in my life are seen differently than they really are?? Am I being intentional enough in the discipling of my children?? Am I being intentional enough in my discipling of others?? Ultimately, what do I need to change to minimize the chance that someone’s perception of what I do or say is different than reality?
I don’t know the alI? the answers, but I know there are areas I need to be more intentional in setting an example, in explaining my actions and intentions.? Anyone else??