Framing Mental Cement

Not long ago, the term "paradigm" became very popular in several pseudo-psychological circles, mostly leadership training or business.  The idea of a "paradigm shift" became the new need for modern business.  A paradigm is essentially a framework through which the sensations of the world around us are interpreted, or the set of things from which we choose how to interpret the events of our lives.  Everyone has one, and they are all different with huge cultural similarities. 

Ironically, this idea was neither new, nor properly applied.  In Isaiah 26:3, the prophet uses the very same idea, but then takes the application in a different direction.  For the prophet, peace (emphasized by doubling the word, "peace peace" usually translated "perfect peace") is experienced when the paradigm used to interpret the world is "being supported" by God.  Perhaps, to continue the use of construction analogy used by the prophet, the better term would be "founded upon" instead of "supported by".

Isaiah's point is that a framed (i.e. well ordered, arranged for a specific purpose, remaining within well-defined boundaries) mind which has God as its foundation is kept in the best example of peace by God.  The reason is given in the last part of the verse, "because he trusts in You."  Interestingly, the only verb in that phrase is a passive participle (in Hebrew that is not an easy piece of grammar to disentangle), but the basic idea of a passive participle is the action is ongoing and the person is being subjected to it, or experiencing it, rather than the one acting.  So God is the one providing the peace, and the trust.

So, first off, do I have this framework in my life?  No, I would not characterize my framework as one of intensified peace.  So, second, how do I "re-frame" my experiences so my interpretation of them has God as the foundation?  Well, I don't.  The foundation is, again, a passive participle in this verse (it reads really weird if translated directly into English, trust me).  So, it is God who leans my framework upon Himself.  So, what's the problem?  Why doesn't He get after it and fix my framework?  I clearly need that paradigm shift, and He's the one to shift it.

I visited the Reagan Library in California, and part of the tour is the enormous gallery which houses the Air Force One used by the late president.  It is ironic that the gallery not only provides an amazing view of an entire jumbo jet, but also of the countryside surrounding the library.  It's just that I had to look out the wall of windows to see the countryside.  I had to look passed the impressive items in the enormous room to see the enormous world of which they had been a part.  My missing framework works the same way.

The world is what it is.  I didn't make it, I don't sustain it, and I can't change much about it.  My framework for interpreting my experiences within it has changed over the years.  God has modified this framework so much it hardly resembles what I had in place as a young adult.  But it is an irony, not one favorable or funny to me particularly, that I still attempt to interpret my experiences in this world by looking within myself rather than out for God.  My attention has been captured by the items in a room I consider wide enough to function as my entire vista, when outside the impressive windows God has created is a bigger, wider, more impressive view I miss.

I will practice using the framework God has provided.  I find it, not within my own mind, but in the elements of God's mind preserved in Scripture.  But to use it, I must look through it out into the world around me.  Oh, I know the things I will see which I have been missing will astound me.  I figure I will feel a tinge of shame at not seeing them sooner.  But I will accept those feelings of wonder and shame as part of the mixture which make up the framework God has constructed for me.  Shalom!