Are You Wearing Dung-Coloured Glasses?

Melanie Jean Juneau- Glasses

\"Melanie

Ah, we love to make fun of those in love, the young and the naive who view the world through rose-colored glasses.  But what about the rest of us, those of us who wear dung-colored glasses? We should chuckle just as loudly when we realize this tendency to see darkly. When I am miserable, nothing, not riches, nor prestige, or a change in circumstances, nothing can change my interior unhappiness.

There is a scene at the end of C.S. Lewis\’ The Chronicles of Narnia that has stayed with me for decades. The fictitious characterization of the grumpy, miserable dwarfs taught me about my own dung-colored glasses, because their perception of reality was so obviously skewed, their behavior hilariously outrageous. This scene is an example of what cognitive therapy tries to teach us about the power of our presumptions to imprison us in misery. Our entrenched paradigms, and our refusal to take off our dung-colored glasses,  prevents us from experiencing a new life when it is offered to us.

The enemies of Aslan have imprisoned the children, a few animals, Prince Caspian, as well as disgruntled dwarfs in a shed that is dank and dark, filled with putrid straw, stale water and rotten cabbages to eat. A war against the evil forces rages outside. Outwardly, it seems that all is lost, yet the children, Prince and animals hold on to the belief that Aslan, who is a Christ figure, will come and save Narnia. Of course the dwarfs mock their ridiculous faith.

Suddenly Aslan appears, vanquishes the enemy and the back of the prison crumbles revealing a glorious sight. It is Narnia, but more resplendent, filled with a radiant light. Everything is more colorful, beautiful, fragrant. It is a resurrected Narnia. Heaven has come to earth. A table, covered with a white cloth and laden with delicacies, beckons them.

Everyone celebrates by feasting on the delicious food laid out before them as they delight in the beauty all around. The dwarfs hang back, suspicious and mistrustful. When they finally venture a nibble of a delicacy they spit it out in disgust. All they taste is stale water and rotten cabbages.  All they see is the dark, dank prison.The grumpy dwarfs refuse this new life that the other characters are enjoying right beside them.

Many of us are no better than dwarfs, wearing dung-colored glasses, viewing God\’s creation darkly. The solution?  Just take off your dung-colored glasses and view this world\’s Aslan who is Christ our Saviour.

 ©2013 Melanie Jean Juneau  All rights reserved.

 

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9 thoughts on “Are You Wearing Dung-Coloured Glasses?”

  1. Pingback: The Anglican Ord. Is More Beautiful in Action than in Theory - BP

  2. Pingback: Two Articles Published on Catholic Stand Dec.5 and 6 | joy of nine9

  3. In today’s Gospel reading from Matthew, two blind men ask Jesus, son of David to have pity on them.. These guys were not wearing dung-colored glasses-they followed Jesus “inside” where he was going because they had faith (rose colored) – evidently Jesus had not yet even acknowledged them. He could have cured them with a thought alone, even without ever glancing their way, without a word to them. But he asks them “Do you believe I can do this?” Faith is not inert, it is not static, acting in accord with the virtue of Faith is an act of the will – and Jesus wanted to know if these two men wanted to align their will with His – did they have on the “rose colored glasses” of faith? After their act of Faith, their “Yes, Lord”, He heals them. Not simply a “yes”, but seeing HIm as “Lord.” Some more theology of the nondung colored glasses: it is not possible for a mother of nine to not wear the rose-colored variety. Melanie: Thank you for sharing your gifts with us. Guy McClung, San Antonio

    Gospel of Matthew:

    As Jesus went on from there, two blind men followed him, calling out, “Have mercy on us, Son of David!”

    When he had gone indoors, the blind men came to him, and he asked them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?”

    “Yes, Lord,” they replied.

    Then he touched their eyes and said, “According to your faith let it be
    done to you”; and their sight was restored. Jesus warned them sternly,
    “See that no one knows about this.” But they went out and spread the
    news about him all over that region.

    – Matthew 9:27-31, NIV translation.

    1. you caught me- I actually do where rose-coloured glasses- I only slip on dung-coloured glasses occassionally

  4. Wow. This is a profound post.

    Your last paragraph about the dwarves spitting out the stale water and rotten cabbages remind me of something else I think Lewis (?) wrote: namely, that even if the evil person who rejected God could go to Heaven, he wouldn’t like it when he got there. Or was that Chesterton? Or Newman?

    No wonder we’re told to seek the Kingdom first, and the things that are above. They whet our appetite.

  5. Wonderful post!

    A friend and I were recently discussing the movie called “The Shawshank Redemption” [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Shawshank_Redemption ].

    One of our favorite scenes is when Andy Dufresne (Tim Robbins) makes his escape via the sewer pipe.

    There is a sense in which, we must go deep into our excrement to discover what the source of our problems are. When we discover the sources include all those “dietary indiscretions” as my faithful doctor puts it, we learn it was all those times when we disconnected from the source of our lives.

    I love it that you are living “a life lived in God.” That’s what I mean when I sign my emails to followers of Jesus. For by connecting with him, I feel like I am living the life Andy (the Christ-like figure) wanted for Red. (See Father Barron’s comments on “Shawshank” here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sp7Fvia3aMg&feature=c4-overview&list=UUcMjLgeWNwqL2LBGS-iPb1A )

    John
    In Christ

    1. really interesting insight and connection to “The Shawshank Redemption”
      thanks for this link- love it

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