What You Look At Is What You See

My mom didn’t have the best singing voice—at least I never thought so. She once told me that she only got into the high school glee club because the director felt sorry for her. She sang on pitch and could carry a tune well enough, but her voice had harshness to it, especially when she sang out of range. I’m ashamed to say that as a teenager I was embarrassed to sit next to her in church because she sang so loudly and her voice did not blend well with the others. I was certain people were staring at us.

No hymn or praise song that left my mom’s lips was ever lacking in heart, though. Maybe that’s what was embarrassing to the teenage me—instead of just accepting the fact that she wasn’t gifted with a beautiful voice and singing her praises quietly, she sang her praises like she meant them…because she did.

I still have a lot to learn from my mother.

So often I use my perceived lack of gifts to sit life out. The new recipes I try never seem to turn out, so we’ll just have spaghetti again. I’m lousy at socializing with people I don’t know well, so let’s just skip the party. My pictures never turn out right, so I’m going to leave the camera at home. I don’t know as much about the new project at work as so-and-so does, so I’ll just keep my mouth shut at meetings.

A wise friend once said, “What you look at is what you see.” My mom actually had this written in her Bible. (She had the same wise friend.) If I look at what’s lacking, I’ll see what’s lacking and it will, nine times out of ten, stop me from moving forward. If I look at what’s there in abundance…well, let me illustrate:

I’m blessed to have a husband and stepkids who graciously eat everything I cook and actually look forward to my “experiments.”

Wow, how nice to get invited to a party! What a great chance for me to be brave and step outside my comfort zone and make new friends.

The great thing about a digital camera is that you can take hundreds of shots until you get the right one!

It’s such a simple concept but so powerful too: It makes all the difference where we focus our attention. Fear can’t win when I’m looking at courage. Despair can’t win when I’m looking at hope. Self-pity can’t win when I’m looking at thanksgiving.


My mom at the front of the VBS parade, singing praises.

When my mom looked at herself sitting in the pew at church with a hymnal in her hand or walking through the neighborhood at the head of the VBS parade or driving in the car listening to her favorite Christian music CD, she saw a desire to praise the One she loved more than anyone else in the world, not a lack of singing talent (or a silly, embarrassed teenage daughter). And that made all the difference to her.

What I look at is a choice, and I pray I will choose wisely; I want to see myself not as lacking in gifts but as swimming in opportunities to be all God wants me to be. And that is an exciting view!