Perspective....

There's a time when it hits. When the winter days grow long, and the bitter cold seems to seep into every part of life. Frustrations build. When it seems that all there is to life is work and cold. And those aren't very fun things to define life. 

BUT THEN! But then, every once and awhile, the sun breaks through these clouds. And for a moment, a gloriously brilliant moment, it all makes sense. It’s all clear. You get a moment where you understand, where you see something more.This happened the other day.

Every year, I try to do the One Word thing. Instead of a resolution, you pick a word instead. I wanted my word to be Seek. Because that’s a cute phrase. A nice, simple word. But one that I needed. I needed to seek out God and His direction. It seemed a good fit. But I guess there was a word I needed even more: 

Perspective.

This word first came to me when I was listening to the audio book of Packing Light by Allison Vesterfelt: “If the location where you’re standing is less than energizing, check your vision. Don’t abandon your expectations, try to see them from a different perspective./Maybe it’s our sense of vision that colors our reality." If you haven't read this book, you should. I'm not finished with it yet, but I have three more chapters and the book is fantastic. 

And then I read a blog post about surrender and all of a sudden I was forced to take a look at my life. My perspective was completely on myself. What was I keeping from surrendering to God?

And then the song, "Empty By Hands" by Tenth Avenue North. The chorus goes: "Empty my hands, fill up my heart. Capture my mind with You. Oh, empty my hands, full up my heart. Capture my mind with You. With You."

And this made it clear that my perspective has been out of line. My perspective was on my worry instead of giving it to God. Instead of it being on God and having an eternal perspective. I need to focus on God. When worries cloud my view stop and ask, what is the eternal perspective? Will this even matter next week? A month from now? A year from now? Is it bringing me closer to God?

But as the world does, as soon as you get a beautiful glimpse of hope and clarity, it tries to make you forget. But I’m holding onto this. I’m holding on and trying to have a new perspective.