Sitting next to Ron on the kiddie playground at the mall, Emily walks over and says,”This playground is smaller.” Ron explains that she is growing bigger, taller, and that what once seemed big looks smaller.
Her perspective is changing as she grows in wisdom and stature.
This changing perspective is a familiar friend to her mama. For instance, the high school halls that once looked so foreboding to an elementary child became navigable as a teen and now seems nearly claustrophobic to a graduate of 14 years.
The inescapable rocks in a box I was told to memorize in middle school have never been so cool to study as they are post-Grand Canyon visit.
I am learning that parenting produces an evolving perspective. Numerous adults have warned me, “These are the easy years when your children are young and you know where they are and what they are doing.” These same parents fussed and fretted over sleep patterns, eating habits, manners, and mishaps the same as Ron and I when their children were little. However, time has changed their perspective to realize that the trusting and letting go portion of parenthood proves more trying than the building of independence and wisdom.
Noah and his family surely experienced a changing perspective as the ark they labored on day after day reached completion. He walked with the Spirit and worked until the flood. As he and his family labored I propose they thought, “This ark is huge! Certainly there will be ample space for every creature and our family.” But as the earth ripped in two and the waters overcame their boundaries, the once larger than life ark felt more like a pebble tossed into the ocean.
Time and novel circumstances change our perspective. As the changes come, do I respond in thanksgiving? Do I embrace or resent the change? Am I looking for the rainbow in the clouds?
My patterns of thinking constantly need a change in perspective. I frequently, if not daily, remind myself to be thankful for the present, for that which is in-front of me, and which I already possess. It takes a Romans 12:1-2 renewing of the mind to look at reality with a righteous gratitude and not a rotten attitude of envy or jealousy coupled with discontent and nostalgia.
What about you? Do you need a fresh perspective? Do you need a renewing of the mind’s eye? An evaluation of present gratitude? If so, join me in praying:
Sovereign Lord,
You are the maker of heaven and earth. Your thoughts are higher than our thoughts and your ways higher than ours. You do not see as man sees; you look at the heart. Lord, give me eyes to see, ears that hear, and a faith that believes. Please search me now and know my inner thoughts. Reveal to me the areas of my life and present circumstances that need a fresh Spirit-filled perspective. Help me to be grateful for what Your hand has allowed this day and for the fruit that my current obedience and labor has been rewarded with. Help me not to compare my lot in life with others, but to glory in Your gracious salvation and Your divine plan. Help me to be obedient and grateful with every step Lord, every step, every thought, every deed. And when I fail, for failure is certain, help me to repent and renew my strength to run again in obedience and steadfastness.
In Jesus Name I Pray,
Amen
