Earlier this morning, I looked out the garden window and saw a bird, content as could be, showing off the little worm that was dangling from his beak. He'd found his breakfast bright and early! On the other hand... if you're the worm, life is over! Perspective - How things appear from your vantage point.
The other day, I talked about the Spiritual Oppression that I sensed lingering over the city. Today, my vantage point is different. I've left the city streets and can now be found amidst the winding country roads. In the distance are rolling green hills, some of them snow capped. Surrounding me are fields upon fields of greenery. There are sheep and cattle everywhere. Horses graze. In some places, there are bright yellow fields of flowering rape seed which is used to make cooking oil. The sky is blue, the clouds are white and puffy. It's truly a beautiful sight to see!The other night I was watching a bit of television. A police officer was hanging from the ledge of a window for dear life. The director shouted "Cut!" and the officer stood up, smiled and walked away. It was just a movie set. The actor wasn't in any danger at all. She was merely lying down on a floor that was painted to look like the side of a high building. It was the camera's perspective that made it appear so dangerously real.
Years ago, I remember meeting a young woman at a birthday party. She had a Bible with her. I asked her question after question about God. After answering each specific inquiry, she would open the Bible and show me where those answers were. I'll never forget her telling me, "Gail... right now you see the world from where you are standing. But when you ask God into your life, it's as if He picks you up, and places you on a rock that's on higher ground. Suddenly you look around at the world and see things that you couldn't see before! You point and think, where did that come from? I couldn't see that from where I was standing. And, Oh my gosh! I didn't know that was behind there!" Vantage point.
That birthday party was thirty years ago. I can remember it like it was yesterday. Today, I can attest to the fact that she was right! I just have to remind myself from time to time that my perspective is not the only option available. I have to remind myself that my own mind can deceive me. I have to remind myself to ask God to show me His perspective.
I notice that my RED shoes are glimmering in the sunlight. I smile. I remember that as a Christian, I am privileged to have been fitted with spiritual glasses. The Holy Spirit who lives in me, is able and more than desirous to show me the spiritual perspective of things any time, if I'll just ask. Not only that, the Word of God is always there to show me spiritual perspective and relieve me of unnecessary doubt.
When my son was about five or six years old, I took him for an eye test and he was equipped with a set of glasses. Later that day, we were playing in the backyard and I saw something that I've never forgotten. It was my boy lifting his glasses off his nose and scanning the world around him. Then, situating his new glasses back in placed, he looked again. "WOW!" he commented. All those years, he had been seeing the world blurry, and now his perspective was clear and detailed.
As I'm drawing nearer to the end of my trip, already I am catching myself at wanting to worry about what tomorrow holds. Home seems so far away. The state of things there... especially things to come, are a bit of a mystery from today's vantage point. I remind myself that worrying today about what my mind wants to tell me is a bit like looking at the police officer hanging from the window of the movie set and panicking. It's simply a waste of time and energy.
As I catch a glimpse of my RED shoes, I turn my head back to the car window and take in the beauty of the land, focusing on where I am right here and now, enjoying God's creation. Talk soon,
Gail
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