Perspective

It is funny how something can really feel so very different depending on what your perspective is when you approach it. Looking at something with a doubtful, negative eye can really make it hard to accept or appreciate. But seeing the good in the same situation and making the best of what is left can really change the way you feel about it.

For instance, there was recently an opportunity for some career changes around here. The hope was that they would improve our financial situation, give us more flexibility in our family schedule, and relieve a little frustration that currently exists. The possibility was very good that this change would happen, and we allowed ourselves to dream a little and get quite excited about what it would mean for us. As with anything, there were some "cons" (if you will) to this opportunity, but while we were dreaming those weren't as apparent. Well, the opportunity didn't end up becoming all we had hoped for, and the change won't be coming anytime soon. At first it was a tough blow, we were both disappointed, let down, even a little angry that our hopes had been yanked from us. But after a few days, a lot of prayer, and a little hindsight it is easy to see that things as they are right now are still pretty good. We have both accepted fully that the change wasn't meant to be, and we have an amazing peace about it. Now it would be easy to focus on the lost dreams, the things we were looking forward to that now won't become reality, to pout about missed opportunities. There was a time in my life that I would have gotten stuck there, probably for quite some time, and I would have moped around for days, miffed that it fell through. But God has changed my heart, and He truly helps me accept that His ways are higher than my ways. And when I look at the things of this earth with my own eyes, they sometimes might not make sense. But God can see so much more. He can see the whole picture, the missing pieces that He has yet to drop into place. He knows the plans He has for us, and He will carry them through. So I'm trying to look at things from God's perspective. Sometimes that means I may not be able to see where I'm going or what is coming.

Like last night, when I got called into work. It was 11pm and I was heading into the ER instead of sleeping soundly in my bed. I was thrown together, my contacts at home in their case, and my glasses sported sleepily on the bridge of my nose. I stepped out of my air-conditioned car into the muggy, humid night and headed for the door of the ER. Within seconds the moisture in the air completely fogged up my lenses. I couldn't see more than shadows and movements, barely able to see anything beyond the inch between my eyeballs and my glasses. But I knew where the ER was and I trusted that it would still be there. So I kept walking. It was a bit disconcerting, trekking along in the dark parking lot, unable to really see where I was going, relying on the noises around me to tell me if the ambulance I spotted on the way in was moving towards me or still parked in my path. But I knew that the ER would be right where I last knew it to be. I knew where the curbs in the parking lot were, and where the access panel to the doors is mounted. So I kept walking, and eventually I made it through the doors and into the familiar walls of the ER. Sometimes it is like that with God. I know He is there, I know He will take me down the path that He designed for my life. I just have to trust and walk, using His word and the reassurance of the many fulfilled promises He has already blessed me with as my guide. And when the humidity fogs my lenses and I can't see more than glimpses and shadows of what is in front of me, I can keep walking, knowing that He never moves, He never changes, and He will never let me down.

So I praise Him, for this ever growing ability to stop looking at my life circumstances through flawed, shielded, earthly eyes. I praise Him for the way He is continually growing and stretching my ability to see things with a God perspective- even when that means I can't see more than an inch in front of my face. I praise Him for the peace that He brings me and the trust that grows through these perspectives.