Daily Journey: Day 71
You Might Be Wrong About What’s Happening
Scripture (ESV)
“The eye is the lamp of the body.” — Matthew 6:22
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I’ve been realizing how quickly I come to conclusions about what’s happening around me, and how confident I feel about those conclusions in the moment. It doesn’t feel like guessing. It feels like seeing, and that’s what makes it hard to question.
You read a situation, pick up on tone, catch a look, feel something shift, and your mind starts connecting dots almost instantly. Before long you’re not just in the moment, you’re inside your interpretation of the moment. And once that locks in, everything else follows it — your response, your tone, the way you carry yourself.
The problem is, that first read isn’t always right.
I’ve had moments where I was already leaning into a response, already forming what I was going to say, and something in me slowed it down just enough to question it. Not loud, just enough to ask whether I was actually seeing clearly or just filling in gaps because something felt off. And when I took a second look, what I thought was happening wasn’t there the way I assumed it was.
That’s not a great feeling, because it means the issue wasn’t just the situation — it was how I was seeing it.
Perception doesn’t show up as “maybe.” It shows up as “this is what’s happening.” That’s why it’s easy to trust it and move fast. But the longer I’ve been doing this, the more I’ve had to learn to slow that first read down just enough to make sure I’m not building on something unstable.
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Why this matters
If your perception is off, everything built on top of it will be off too. Your tone, your decisions, your leadership — it all follows what you think you’re seeing. And when that’s wrong, you don’t just misread the moment, you start creating problems that didn’t need to exist.
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Reflection
Where might I be reacting to what I think is happening instead of what actually is?
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Word of the Day
Perception — how you interpret what’s happening, which shapes how you respond to it.
