Half Full or Half Empty
I was on my way to our church’s Men’s Fellowship Breakfast one morning when all I could think of was a glass half full or a glass half empty. You know the philosophical way of looking at the world… (Just to be upfront, I am a huge proponent of the glass half full side philosophy). But before I go down that path, whenever a thought enters my head like that, I believe the Holy Spirit wants me to pay attention to it…maybe to write about it, maybe for my own faith walk, or some other reason. This was on my mind when I got to the fellowship breakfast that day.
The fellowship was good and the speaker was fine and I’d love to craft my message around that but it isn’t my message so I’ll focus on the conversation with my friend. A different friend of mine at the table was making small talk (by the way, I’m a confirmed introvert that has a few miles on me so I have to force myself to make small talk in a lot of situations) and mentioned something about how messed up the world is. I made a comment something similar to: “Wouldn’t the world be better if we went back to a time closer to my youth?”
That is when I got, and rightfully so, challenged.
You see usually I’m the one on that side of a discussion trying to get the other person to take all the considerations into account to make sure their statement doesn’t fall apart. For example, our current President, just the other day, proposed raising taxes on corporations explaining that they were making too much money. It’s easy to agree with that suggestion until you consider that those same corporations are probably going to raise the price of their product to recover the extra cost that they will have to pay. Then the question becomes who is really paying for the increased costs.
But I digress, the fallacy of my statement is that it is a package deal including the loss of all the positives that have happened since my youth (increases in food production, increases in the standard of living, ability to communicate easier and cheaper and the list goes on and on). So, in trying to defend my statement, I said something like “couldn’t we incorporate the good things I perceived in the past with the good things of today to make a better world”. That’s when my friend had me and pounced. He explained that the good environment in my past was based on my bubble of reality (both at that time and my recollection of it today) and not necessarily on any quantitative improvement (with out the associated negatives as well) in totality over today.
“They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.” - Psalm 145:7 ESV
“There is no remembrance of former things, nor will there be any remembrance of later things yet to be among those who come after.” - Ecclesiastes 1:11
“Brothers, do not be children in your thinking. Be infants in evil, but in your thinking be mature.” - 1 Corinthians 14:20
Our discussion then devolved into an even deeper historical and philosophical dive into church and state that I’ll leave till another time.
I have always tried (at least philosophically if not in deed) to summarize my position under the adage of “the grass is greener on which ever side of the fence you water.” In other words, instead of focusing on what’s wrong or if somewhere else has it better, focus that effort on considering what you can do to make the here and now better.
“After these things God tested Abraham and said to him, ‘Abraham!’ And he said,’“Here I am.’” - Genesis 22:1
“Now there was a disciple at Damascus named Ananias. The Lord said to him in a vision, ‘Ananias.’ And he said, ‘Here I am, Lord.’” - Acts 9:10
So, instead of deciding whether the glass is half full or half empty, maybe the question which we should ask is “Lord, what do you want me to do with this glass”
