Faith Formation - Dewitt Jones - "Celebrate What’s Right With the World”

Remember when you were a kid, you would spend hours playing with simple things? Recall when the world was a constant source of wonder? Consider the engaging following childlike perspective . . .

Circumstances around us have greatly changed in a variety of ways especially, we all live in the same world.  Maybe it’s us that have changed and transformed.  Due to a rapidly changing world couple with very busy schedules, we seem to have become complacent with the beauty in our surroundings.  We seem to take the simplest of offerings for granted and are less amazed by every little thing we come across. For example, the middle picture in the above slide features a picture of my son during a tennis match when he was a toddler.  To put it very bluntly, he was captivated and more concerned about a beautiful lady-bug that was near him on the court than the tennis ball that whizzed on by him.  To him this beautiful creature was more important . . . and he took a break to see the beauty in the world. As the other images in the slide state, we can learn a lot from the children in our world who see the world with a different perspective and lens.

But that does not mean we cannot revert to a state of being able to appreciate the immense beauty that we usually take for granted. It just takes a bit of concentration, mindfulness and perspective … As simply stated by Dewitt Jones, one just needs to adopt the following mindset… ”Change your lens…change your life”.

Dewitt Jones is a world-renown National Geographic photographer, an award-winning film director, and writer. And now, with his renown “Celebrate What’s Right With the World”, he is a sought-after speaker, transforming hearts and minds with his powerful message of how “reframing the world” or changing our lens on the world can transform our lives!

Dewitt Jones knows a few things about reframing the world around him. As a professional photographer for National Geographic, he travelled the globe capturing and bringing the wonders of the world to millions of people. During his time, he learned some profound lessons about the way we perceive the world. These are powerful insights that allow us to live a life of joy and possibility.

Take time to view his Ted Talk at the following link.  In these few minutes, you will rediscover the wonders and possibilities that surround us every day just waiting to be noticed and celebrated.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD_1Eh6rqf8 - CELEBRATE WHAT’S RIGHT WITH THE WORLD! | Dewitt Jones

Here are two important “takeaways” that resonate with me for our daily lives from Dewitt’s message:

1. We can choose what we celebrate by giving it our attention.

• Dewitt Jones states . . . “Our vision controls our perception and our perception becomes our reality . . . The more that I went out and just celebrated the best in humanity the more I could see it.”

2. There is more than one right answer.

• Dewitt Jones states . . . “So many things begin to change when we come at the world with the more than one right answer perspective. There are a thousand ways to come at any problem.”

“Celebrating what’s right” begins with recognizing these two central beliefs. They help us reframe how we look at the world. And by practicing them, we can understand the world in better balance with its very real beauty and wondrous complexity. Together, this reframing begins to compound that feeling that the world is full of boundless opportunity.

When we manage what we are looking for very carefully (look for things to celebrate, even in tough situations), we will see more of the best in the world around us. Imagine how “reality” will shift if more people reconsidered their lenses!

  

 

Dewitt Jones reminds me that we live in an amazing world.  However, the world is hungry for a “lens of celebration” instead of a lens which highlights the problems that exist. Dewitt Jones challenges us to find delight and passion… or fall in love with the world by changing our lens. We can change the future by changing what we give our attention to and focusing on the good news. While we can’t deny the problems in the world, we can position ourselves to be able to put those problems into a larger, more balanced picture or view. Such a view that includes the beauty of the world. Only there we can see that there is far more right with the world than what is wrong with it!

Dewitt’s message has me recall the following quote from Albert Einstein which is a healthy prescription of how we can approach life. We should strive to internally liberate ourselves by widening our perception and engaging different lenses as we live life. As he once stated, “There are two ways to live life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle."

But for me, it is difficult to separate this philosophy from my faith and my spiritual mindset which prompts the need to be mindful of the gifts bestowed by God in our lives.  Let us continue as we proclaim and reflect on the following words with prayerful and thankful hearts . . .

Dear God,

We are here to express our gratitude for all your blessings.

You have given us so much,

not only providing what we need to live,

but in giving us yourself.

We are richly blessed, and it is right to acknowledge

that you are the source of all good things.

Teach us to savor the moments we have with one another,

to rightly remember what we have lost,

but also to look forward in hope

to what we have promised in the future.

We say again, ‘Your love is better than life.’

Thank you for all your blessings,

for even through trials and loss you always,

somehow reveal your goodness.

In Jesus we pray. Amen

During this time of uncertainty, we are reminded in different ways of how powerful perspective and a thankful heart can be in our lives.  Though at times we may be faced with some challenging moments, we need to be in awe of God’s grace with the wonderful world that He created with us in mind!  This is especially true as we reflect and show gratitude for “what is right with the world” in addition to those things (particularly people) in our lives that matter most!  In light of this, please take a few minutes to enjoy a reprise of one of my all-time favourite songs – done in a rather unique way by Raymond Crowe.  The second version of the song was done by talented musicians and artists from the Aussie Pops Orchestra as a project to raise money to many who lost livelihoods due to the Covid -19 Pandemic:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NZ5MJqB9myA  - What A Wonderful World

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Hc_1c_Ask0 - Aussie Pops Orchestra - What a Wonderful World