I guess you could say I’ve had Coronavirus on my mind. Who doesn’t these days? Not the actual virus, praise the Lord, but the molecule artwork….and I’m seeing it everywhere! It started when the cute Christmas card below ended up next to a Covid Home Test Box and I noticed a similarity in the spiky, spherical illustrations. Now I can’t unsee it. And I am seeing more resemblances everywhere.
A neighbor’s tree light sphere? Coronavirus molecule! Holiday fireworks? There it is again! A cranberry-inspired decoration I’ve had for more than a decade — yep!
It seems I’ve got a bad case of Baaden-Meinhof Phenomenon. It sounds serious, but unlike said molecule, no zinc or vaccine needed. Also known as frequency illusion or frequency bias, it’s what often happens when, “after noticing something for the first time, there is a tendency to notice it more often, leading someone to believe that it has a high frequency of occurrence.”1
Has that ever happened to you? Maybe a friend tells you they are looking to get a new car you’ve never heard of, and then, suddenly, you see a Jeep Renegade at every stoplight.
So, what if we looked for God in this way? It’s probably not the first time, but we might have gotten out of the habit, what with world news being what it is. What if, instead of focusing our thoughts on what’s wrong, we began to search again for the good things of God. Unlike the cars and the spiky spheres — there’s no frequency illusion when it comes to the Creator. He is in everything and everywhere. We just don’t always see Him.
So how do we begin to change our frequency bias? To wake up and put on our find-God goggles? Seems obvious that it starts with morning time spent with God. Adding to that, in Philippians, Paul tell us to be in prayer, yes, but with a thankful mindset, to allow Jesus’ peace to “guard our hearts and minds.” And then, to get us on the search for the uplifting, we are to think about “whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy….2
So, we start the day with thankful hearts, and then we set our intention: look for the good stuff! We vow to find Him in the hectic moments, the trying moments. Even when our hearts are heavy, when lines are long, traffic is jammed, everyone seems angry and the world seems lost, we keep looking. Let’s seek Him out, to find the lovely, the pure, the small act of kindness between strangers at the supermarket, rather than focus on the shallow inventory or the slow service. Perhaps it’s time to look with admiration at someone who we envy, and thank God for what we have rather than marinating in jealousy over what they have. Maybe, especially in the difficult moments where the good is exceedingly hard to find, we turn our hearts toward thanking God that the trouble we see in this world has been overcome by our Savior. 3 Now that is praiseworthy.
Prayer: Father, may our hearts — and our eyes — be set on finding You. Help us to see You on every street corner, in every sphere, as we praise and celebrate the birth of our triumphant Savior Jesus Christ.
1 Wikipedia
2 Philippians 4:6-8 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, through prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your mind in Christ Jesus. Whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable — if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about these things.”
3 John 16:33 “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
#Jesus #omnipresent #covid #frequencyillusion
McMusings 
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