Clarity of Perception

Some stuff you know. Other stuff you don’t…

Minister-Lou mentioned ‘We’re going on a Bear Hunt’ in Sunday’s sermon. The church was divided. Some knew what she was talking about, others hadn’t a clue. I’ve read or recited ‘Bear Hunt’ many times. Some friends, since Sunday, have been met the book for the first time. Some are still ignorant.

Yesterday I thirteen-year-old grandson-Luca randomly asked: ‘Does Mike Wazowski wink or blink?’ I didn’t know what he was talking about… I discovered that Mike Wazowski is a small, round, green, one-eyed monster from the film ‘Monsters, Inc’. Now I understand – and smile at – Luca’s question about winking or blinking…

Conflicting opinions…

Parents often talk about the relative merits of local schools. Before I retired, when I was teaching, I’d been into most local schools. I learnt that a school’s reputation, what parents thought they knew about a school, wasn’t always the same as the reality of what actually went on in a school.

Yesterday I was in two conversations about the relative merits of local care homes. As with schools, there were strong opinions; a single visit doesn’t tell the whole story… We discussed reputation and reality, stuff you know and stuff you don’t…

Bits of me are wearing out…

Recently my blood pressure and teeth have been routinely checked and tested. I’ve had my eyes tested… Which row of letters can I read? Do these lenses make them clearer? Or not? New glasses?

I’ve had my first hearing aids fitted. My audiologist explained that if my brain isn’t used to hearing particular sounds and frequencies it needs to be re-trained to get used to hearing them again. My brain is being re-trained!

Musing…

Seeing and hearing clearly… Aids for what is wearing out… Getting my brain used to greater clarity… Distinguishing between reputation and reality, seeing lies and prejudice clearly… Hearing what’s said listening to what’s meant… Looking at, listening to, situations, people, God with greater care… perceiving what I might not have understoodd before.