Welcome back to all of our listeners! I’m BJ Sipe, and you’re listening to the Set Your Mind Above podcast – where everyday ordinary events teach us extraordinary eternal truths. I’m so glad that you’ve tuned in today, I am excited to share my life and my faith with you, and I sure hope that you’ll do the same with me along the way. 

A while back ago for Ava’s third birthday, our dear friend Kylie Cooper got her a pretty awesome gift. It is a camera designed for toddlers, but here’s the deal – it is 100% functional. Naturally the picture quality is no Cannon m50 or anything, but it takes real pictures that can be downloaded and even has some fun effects on the camera itself. It can take video, add a filter or background to your pictures, or be set on a timer to take delayed pictures. Overall, it’s pretty impressive and Ava absolutely loves it. For the past month, all she has done just about every day is take pictures throughout the day on her camera. She even took it with her and got some fun pictures on her trip to see her Papa & Gigi in North Carolina last week. Well yesterday evening I went to sit down and relax on the couch when I felt something digging into my back behind the pillow cushion. It was her camera that apparently she had stashed to hide it from her brother who loves to chew on it. I pulled it out and decided to look through the gallery to see what kind of pictures Ava has been taking. The first thing that blew me away was the quantity – she has taken over 900 pictures that I need to download! Maybe she’ll grow up to be like her aunt Emily and be a photographer on the side. I started looking through her pictures to see what kind of things she takes pictures of, and to my surprise many them were much better quality than I expected She has learned to hold the camera still long enough to take a decent picture. But what was most enlightening as I scrolled through them was I was quickly learning what was most important to my daughter as I viewed the things she takes pictures of. Of course her whole world is her mommy, daddy, and her brother – and that was evident as most of her pictures were of the three of us. There were candid pictures as well as staged pictures, where she clearly told mommy to smile or her brother to model a toy he was holding. But there were dozens of candid shots too, where she caught me napping or just making a cup of coffee. But to her, it was special – she just wants to take pictures of the people that she loves. I learned other thing that were important to her, as she frequently took pictures of her favorite TV shows that were on the TV. There were probably 50 different shots of our television that she had taken while watching Cocomelon or Curious George. There were pictures of the windowsill where a spider lives outside that she is convinced is the actual “Itsy Bitsy spider”. There were pictures of her baby dolls that she had “put to bed” and then taken pictures of them after she set them up how she wanted. And best of all were her silly selfies, where she had turned the camera around and made funny faces at the camera. She’s a typical American girl – because probably 100 of her 900 pictures were of herself making faces. She’s a silly girl that loves to have fun and show off for the camera. I made my way through all of them and put the camera down. In a strange way, I felt like I got to know my daughter even better as a result of looking through those images. It was as though for a brief moment I was able to see the world through her eyes, what is actually important to her and not what I guessed would be important. I think many times in our life we assume what others need, want, or think – but until we actually have an opportunity to see the world through their eyes, we don’t really have a good understanding. At the heart of the matter I suppose we’re talking about learning how to be empathetic, to develop the ability to understand and share the feelings of others around us. 

As I thought about these things, my mind went to Paul’s instructions to the Philippians in chapter 2:1-4, “So if there is any encouragement in Christ, any comfort from love, any participation in the Spirit, any affection and sympathy, complete my joy by being of the same mind, having the same love, being in full accord and of one mind. Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.” This is perhaps one of the most important teachings of the apostles as it pertains to unity in the body of Christ. How we attain the oneness that we seek as the household of God is only achieved by placing the needs and interest of others in front of our own. As we seek to serve others and place their needs first through love, we learn to weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice as we learn to have the same care for one another (see 1 Corinthians 12). However, what are the needs and interests of others? I believe sometimes we can impose our own feelings and thoughts on those we call brothers and sisters in Christ, and we serve them how we think they need to be served rather than finding out what they actually need. This is empathy, that we not just work diligently to serve others, but that we work diligently to learn how to best serve others. Taking the time to see the world through their eyes and learn what is important to them equips us to know how to better serve them and love them. Empathy helps us to fulfill this commandment in more ways than one. How many times do we listen to an announcement about someone going through something difficult or needing encouragement, and yet it goes in one ear and out the other and we do nothing. Yet when we are the ones who are going through something, we act offended and hurt when we don’t get a text or call or meal from someone. Wait a second, let’s see through the eyes of others for a moment to recognize two things. One, if that is how I would feel if no one checked in on me, how do you think others have felt that I have not checked in on during their time of need? Service is not a one way street about me, I need to be ready and willing to help others as well. But also, let’s use empathy in another way. I lot of times we have unrealistic expectations on others, we want them to do certain things or serve in particular ways. When they don’t, we get frustrated and think that they’re spiritually lazy – after all, you do these things, so they should have no excuse. Well wait a second, put yourself in their position. What else is going on in their life? Are they working full time? Raising kids? Are they a caretaker for others in their family? Is their health struggling? Sometimes if we just took the time to see the world through someone else’s eyes and recognized their needs, we would not be so quick to place unrealistic expectations on them. I’m learning through this how much division in the church and in our relationships occurs by only seeing things through my own point of view, and that is not loving, because love does not insist on it’s own way. We need to take the time to really learn the needs and interest of others, not making assumptions and projecting those on them, but really learning how to be empathic. But when we learn do to this, and when we learn to see things through each other’s eyes, we will find the kind of unity that Christ prayed for his people to have – a unity that likens even that of the Father & Son. Let’s expand our vision today. 

Thank you so much for listening to today’s episode. Tune in, Tuesday-Fridays, as a new podcast episode will be uploaded each day. Also, be sure to follow the Facebook page for the Set Your Mind Above podcast for future announcements and video sessions. As you have the opportunity, share these thoughts with your friends and family, and share with me what important lessons you are learning from every day, ordinary events. Until next time know that I love you, that God loves you, and may we all each and every day set our minds above.