Perception vs. Reality

We're fogged in this morning.  It's almost as though we are cut off from the rest of the world.  When I look out the front windows, or when I stand on the front porch, visibility is very limited.  All I see is fog, shades of black and white and gray. 

I know there's a world out there.  I can't see it but I know it's there, and I can communicate with that world via technology.

 

That was not the case yesterday morning.  Yesterday was a beautifully clear, with just a few wispy clouds over the mountains in front of us.  But even though it didn't look like it, we were cut off from the rest of the world. Our communication channel, the internet, was not working, at least for a time.  Once the reset button on the router was pushed, communication was restored and all was well.

Our devotional reading yesterday morning included the story of Joseph Scriven.  I was not familiar with Scriven's story, but I haven't been able to get it out of my mind since. Joseph Scriven was an Irish poet whose fiancée drowned the night before they were to be married.  Grieving deeply, he decided to move to Canada and begin a new life there.  Out of this experience and several others, he penned these words:

What a friend we have in Jesus,

All our sins and griefs to bear!

What a privilege to carry

Everything to God in prayer!

Oh, what peace we often forfeit,

Oh, what needless pain we bear,

All because we do not carry

Everything to God in prayer.

 

What's the common thread here?  What ties these somewhat disparate things together?

 

Communication.  And perception.  What it feels like isn't always reality.  Feelings aren't always reliable.

 

Today it feels like I'm cut off from the world.  But I'm not.

 

Yesterday it felt like I could communicate with anyone.  But I couldn't.

 

Joseph Scriven felt deep despair.  Yet in spite of that he learned deep truths about God and about prayer.  Truths which he shared with us by writing these words we have come to know as the hymn What a Friend We Have in Jesus.

 

The reality is that, no matter the circumstances and no matter how I may feel, I can always communicate with my heavenly Father.  On the clear days.  On the foggy days.  When the internet works.  When it doesn't.  In the happy times.  In the sad times.  And in all the in between times. In all circumstances.  About everything.  About anything. 

 

The fog reminds me of that this morning.  There's the illusion that I'm completely cut off from the world today, completely isolated and alone. 

 

But it's only an illusion.  Perception isn't reality.

 

The reality is that I am not alone.  And the reality is that I can communicate, through prayer, with the One who knows me best and loves me most.  What a privilege!

 

"Draw near to God and he will draw near to you."  (James 4:8 ESV)