Gratitude Is A Matter Of Perspective

“A gift [is as] a precious stone in the eyes of him that hath it: whithersoever it turneth, it prospereth.” (Pr 17:8 AV)

Our perceptions and bias dictate the nature of our experiences.  For instance, if we have it in our minds that a new recipe will not taste good, it will influence how we experience our first taste.  If we go on a vacation with the mindset, it will be nothing but and inconvenience, that is probably what it will be.  If we see our jobs as nothing more than the means by which we pay bills and it is often more trouble than it is worth, then that is probably how we will experience it.  There are many gifts in life.  God is gracious and grants to His creation gifts without measure.  Life is the first and most important gift.  Whether we see it as such, the fact remains, God gave it.  Salvation is the next greatest gift God ever gave to man.  The forgiveness of all sin and a home in a perfect heaven are beyond total comprehension.  A spouse is a gift.  That is what Proverbs and the Apostle Peter teach us.  Our children and extended family are gifts.  That is what Paul and Solomon testify to.  Perception has a great deal to do with gratitude and pleasure.  This is Solomon’s point.  If we see God’s grace in all that we have and are, then we will find the perspective that shows us how wonderful the thing is.

Solomon is showing us that examining a thing, person, or aspect of life from different angles will reveal just how precious it is.  A while back, I watched a video one the ten most precious gems in the world.  Not individual gems, but the specimens.  I would have thought diamonds were the most precious.  But they are not.  In fact, in a list of the ten most precious types of gems, diamonds are at the lower end.  There were gems where only a handful of known specimens exist.  Those types of specimens were toward the higher end of value.  There was one type where the known specimens were incredibly small, and rare, that the value was priceless.  There was one gemstone, however, that piqued my interest.  The most expensive color changing gemstone is called Alexandrite.  In natural daylight, the gemstone is green.  But in artificial light, it is red.  There was another gemstone that escapes my mind, but when you look at it, it appears black.  However, the more you turn it in the light, it appears purple and red.  Turning it under the light shows beauty that would normally remain hidden.  It was the same when I looked at diamonds.  When shopping for my wife’s engagement ring, I spent some time with the owner of a store and he taught me his craft.  He had me look at a diamond under the influence of a monocle.  When looking far deeper than the natural eye could attain, there were brilliant colors that appeared.  Clarity was seen as perfection.  Color was seen a beauty.  I became addicted to the beauty of diamonds.  The more one turned it, the more precious it became.

Perhaps the reason we are not as grateful as we should be is we have a perception problem.  We see our situations from only one or two directions.  We get tunnel vision.  We don’t stop to examine the provision of God as it truly is.  The provisions from God are a gift whether we are willing to accept that or not.  If we see life from only one angle, we are apt to complain that it is not more than it is.  We become discontent.  We cannot see God’s grace as multifaceted.  We cannot see the goodness of God with eyes that bore deep enough to see the preciousness of it.  We complain because we are blind.  We murmur because we will not stop and see.  All we see is the superficial.  We don’t see the deep riches of God’s grace.  It is sad, really.  I think people who are perpetually grateful no matter the situation have learned that things are not as they seem.  In their humility, they realize they deserve nothing but the pits of hell, and therefore, anything better than that is precious.  They live life slow enough to examine their situation in life as a gift from God, give Him the benefit of the doubt, and trust Him in all things.  They have learned that life is a gift more precious than all else and that salvation in Christ means more than words can say.  So, you have a gemstone.  If you cannot see it for the beautiful stone that it is, turn it.  Use different light.  Wear a monocle.  Do whatever is necessary to see how precious the gifts of God truly are.