Are you familiar with the glass half full/glass half empty metaphor to describe optimism and pessimism? There is another dimension to this concept that this metaphor doesn’t capture. Do you think of a glass as a rigid object with fixed volume? Yet in the realm of growth your ‘glass’ can grow so it holds more than it did before. Haven’t you experienced this already, that you understand things that would be incomprehensible earlier? You may refer to this as stretching, and know that the discomfort involved in the process is real.

And the word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory. You know that this refers to me, and that it describes a unique event of divine destiny. But could the same concept apply to you? Have you ever heard of reading someone like a book? Or heard of someone described as an open book? This implies that their true nature is on display. Paul referred to his fellow believers as living epistles, seen and read by all men. If your life was an open book, what would it say? Are you letting your light shine before men? Is it possible that the word has become flesh in you?

Have you heard the distinction between seeing the same glass as half-full or half-empty? This is used to illustrate the difference between optimism and pessimism in the same situation, and the gratitude for what you have, but the same scenario illustrates another principle as well. A glass that is half-full has room for more. Have you met people who were like full glasses, confident in their current positions and lacking in curiosity about things they don’t know? They can’t take on any more. I want you to know that you are a glass half-full.

Do you want to be smarter? Intelligence is highly rated in your culture, and people are admired just for being smart. But intelligence is a fairly stable measure, while maturity and wisdom are not. Do you see a lack of intelligence as a major hindrance in the people around you? Wouldn’t you say that they are held back more by fear, bias, and a lack of comprehension of the shape of reality than by a lack of reasoning ability? These are things that you can change, or can be changed in you if you accept the process.