The picture in your mind should be fairly easy to sketch. Imagine you are sitting in your garden, it’s still safe in the area so you don’t have high fences, and you don’t have issues with your neighbour so it’s just a low fence between you and them, basically just to keeps your dogs on your side, and his kids on his side….
You look over the fence while having a coffee, and you see your neighbour watering his swimming pool… Yes, you read it correctly… You look over the wall and your neighbour is standing with the hosepipe, watering his swimming pool.
I was that that guy today, watering my swimming pool, with a hosepipe in the hand, spraying the fresh new water all over the existing water. Your first perception? “This dude is NUTS”, and to be honest, I would have thought exactly the same, if I was not myself and knew what I was thinking at that exact moment while watering my pool.
You see, the thing with a swimming pool is quite logical, it has water inside it. That water is great to cool you down on a hot summer day, its sometimes nice and warm on a coolish day, you need to take care not get algae growing in it, and sometimes you need to grab a brush and jump in and brush those side where the Creepy does not reach. The most frustrating thing of a swimming pool, is when your neighbour decides he needs some more green in his garden and also some shade, and he plants a tree next to his braai area, I mean that’s where the shade is needed most on a hot summer day when standing behind a container full of fire….
So how does my craziness of watering the pool, tie in with the neighbour’s tree, you are probably asking.
You see, this tree is a leopard-bark tree. For those of you that do not know what that is, a simple explanation, don’t ever in your life plant it next to a swimming pool or your braai area! This tree is stunning, except that it drops small leaves the entire year, and when that does not happen, it drops small yellow flowers half of the year, and if that does not happen, the branches breaks off and falls in your pool, and if that does not happen, the seeds it produces falls into your pool and blocks your poor Creepy’s inlet… You would notice from the description, it’s really not a tree you want close to your pool…
So now the tree upset me, and I am rather watering my pool… That’s what it must look like to any person walking past the house, peering over the wall, most probably stopping and wondering if I have sun-stroke or maybe a bottle of wine too many.
That is called a Perception… You see, the guy walking past, sees me, sees the hosepipe, sees the pool, sees the water being sprayed into the pool, and me smiling… Perception – perceiving something that you don’t actually have a clue about, and don’t know the truth…
It all sounds very confusing, I know, but now let’s put this Perception on the table and look at it with some information at hand. So, we know there is a tree. We know that is loves to make a mess. We know there is a pool. We know I don’t like a mess in my pool. We also know that when you throw a leaf in the water, even in a river, it won’t drop to the bottom instantly. It will take some time, float around on the top, enjoying the sun and wind, bobbing around, and while this little leaf is floating and minding its own business, it starts to absorb water from the pool. The next thing that happens is that this poor innocent little leaf starts to drown (metaphorically) and as this little leaf drowns, it starts to sink to the bottom.
Now you probably wonder why it makes any difference at all, because when these leaves drop down to the bottom, the top is nice and clear and clean… One could agree with that, but then later when you get into the pool, all those leaves at the bottom just makes your whole swimming experience “leafy” and one or two kicks and all those leaves are all over the pool, from top to bottom, and you rather then get out and go watch TV.
Now where does the perception come in, you ask? The facts are clear. We have water, we have dry leaves on the top, and we have a hosepipe – and this is tried and tested believe me. When you grab the hosepipe and open the water, and focus the water output element – which is basically your stream of water, you can spray the dry leaves on the top of the water, in a direction that you want, inside the pool… I know, water plus leaves equals sinking feeling, BUT, when you spray these small leaves on the top, like you would clean a pavement at home, you can spray them all into the weir where the pump motor will suck them in.
Achievement? Clean pool, soaking up some sun, get the leaves into the pool weir BEFORE they drop to the bottom.
Now this story has two directions it takes. The first direction comes down to perceptions. Don’t think you know what you think you know, until you know it based on facts. It’s a long sentence but in short it means, don’t make up stories in your own mind about things that you don’t understand. It comes down to everyday life, people go about their business, they interact, they do interesting things, and sometimes they do weird things, like watering their pools, unless I am the only one, which makes me unique in many ways
The second direction this story takes is a bit more spiritual of nature. It comes down to a very simple idea. If something in your life is not right, then it is wrong. You see there cannot be something that it right AND wrong, it can either be right OR wrong. So, you are the pool, and no it does not mean you are a wet towel that spoils parties! It means that your appearance to the world is what you show the world. You can appear sweet and innocent, but be evil and vindictive, you can appear sad and lonely, but inside be content with life and enjoy the silence around you.
You see, appearances are like the swimming pool… When life happens around you, leaves drop from the trees around you. You did not expect the tree to be such a pain, you just saw this little tree grow and you loved to see it develop and become strong, because you would also eventually benefit from its shade… That’s life in a nutshell. We grow up with things around us that looks ok, that looks to be beneficial to us, that would help us later in life, and slowly we accept this tree that keeps on dropping its leaves and flowers and branches in our lives…
When we allow these leaves to settle on our appearance, they eventually get saturated and drop down in our everyday lives, settling at the bottom, where no one sees it, until we look a bit deeper and then realise how much sludge we have built up over the years.
Is it not better then to make sure that in life, things that come across our lives, that looks great initially, but turns out to be bad, should be taken care of immediately, and not left for later? Is it not better to grab the hosepipe and force those unwanted leaves and debris into the weir where it can be caught and disposed of? The question you have to ask yourself is easy. Would you care if someone thinks you are crazy while you are sorting out things in your life the way you think they should be sorted out? Do other people’s perceptions about you bother you? Is someone else’s perception about you going to change who you are? Is someone else’s perception going to make a positive influence in your life?
Easy answer should be NO.
So, let’s bring in the spiritual side of things to complete this puzzle…
See it in your mind, you are the pool, crystal clear. The leaves in your life story represent challenges from the world and sometimes it can even represent sin in your life. Sin is also sometimes quite light, does not weigh you down immediately, but as it builds up and accumulates in your life, it can actually drown you. The pool weir and pump system, easy, Holy Spirit, Jesus, God our Father.
We have been made crystal clear and clean by the death of Jesus on the Cross. Sin and Satan still attacks us every day, trying to softly enter our lives without us realising it. Then we switch on the pump, Jesus Christ, and HE takes on all of that sin, takes it on Himself, gathers it from you, and keeps it away from you, so that you can have a crystal-clear life and soul.
So, in essence it comes down to the simple facts, make sure you get familiar with what is around you every day, things that may have become so “normal” that you don’t even realise its poisoning you. Make sure that when you see something bad in your life, to sort it out right then and there, don’t delay it. Make sure you have Jesus in your life to take that sin away from you, and fight for your clarity in the eyes of Father God.
Don’t let perceptions fool you, and don’t make perceptions about anything you don’t have the facts about. Sometimes a guy standing at his pool with a hosepipe, is not as crazy as you would have perceived it
Be blessed and stay safe
