Editorial April 18, 1994 Issue

What determines how we feel and what we express?

Russ Gerber

Faces reveal a lot. A recent newspaper story included a picture of a bootmaker who was clearly delighted over an increasing demand for the footwear he personally designs and assembles. His business is thriving! Then there was a report on television showing a financial analyst confident and secure as he scanned the very favorable figures from the world's financial markets. What these people were seeing indicated growth and prosperity, and this was reflected in their expressions.

Sometimes, however, what is being expressed on faces or in people's attitudes indicates undesirable conditions. The anger of demonstrators shouting and waving torches because of political oppression. Unemployed workers, frustrated and desperate. Some expressions tell of despair, some of hatred.

It may seem unquestionable that the conditions around us—whether severe or stimulating—determine what we think, how we feel, what we express. We may be convinced that when outward conditions change, for better or for worse, only then will there be an inward change, a change in our attitude and feelings. Yet, as many accounts in the Bible indicate, a shift in thought to a spiritual basis, discerning what Spirit, God, is expressing of Himself, actually reverses this seemingly natural order of things.

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