Unexpected

It was very ironic to me that as I was reading the book I'm reading for my devotions in the morning, the author mentioned Victor Frankl. The Noticer also mentioned Frankl. I've been trying to articulate why the Noticer is so unsettling to me for 2 days now. I'm going to try once more =)

In the book I'm reading as part of my devotions (the 7 hardest things God asks a woman to do), the author relates how Dr. Frankl observed that it was hope that sustained people who seemed likely to die more than physical strength. It was hope that portended what would happen to them in the future. He also observed that the last human freedom that is left when a man has nothing else is the ability to choose how we will react to his life and situation. This is very much in line with the whole point of the Noticer--that you choose your perspective and that changes your life.

But, in the 7 hardest things, the author juxtaposes Frankl with the Biblical truth---
That the Bible reveals the truth that we must have hope. We need to choose to give thanks and be grateful in everything. But, the most important point, I believe, that the author makes is that we make the decision, but God gives us the ability to do this--to be grateful in all things.

That very last part in parentheses is what is missing in the Noticer. It only reminds people about the decisions we make and doesn't acknowledge the fact that God enables. There is a truth that hope and a good perspective can and will change our lives. But, it will not last unless that hope is truly because of what is important: The Lord above all else, the people he's brought into our lives, and the lives of others that he uses us in.

There is a tone about the whole book, The Noticer, that unsettled me from the beginning. It is that tone of self-sufficiency--that I can do this on my own--I can change my life--I can be anybody I want to be. The idea that the secret of life is to be positive and encouraging (since those are the people like), so that people will like you and want to be around you makes my heart fill with heaviness by the false teaching. That is not the secret of life.

The secret of life is the Truth--that God sent his one and only son...
For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life. John 3:16

I humbly and in tears thank you Lord for your son. This life is not about me, as I forget every day when I get upset and complain or grumble, but about You. Please use me this day to love my children and the people in my life well. Please guide my heart, my words, and my deeds. Amen.