Perspective

I have been doing a lot of contemplating, evaluating, soul searching, you name it lately. The truth of the matter is that I’ve always been a thinker, but lately I’ve been thinking so much that it has worn me out. 

Actually, it’s not the thinking that has been wearing me out, but rather the subject matter. You see, I seem to have found myself right smack dab in the middle of a character-building/growth season of my life. And anyone who has ever been in one of those types of seasons knows that they bring with them a plethora of opportunities – to think, to receive revelation, and if you’re not careful, to take offense, become frustrated, and throw in the towel. 

I made up my mind a while ago that taking offense and throwing in the towel are just not options that I’m willing to allow myself to take advantage of – I don’t like the rabbit hole that they lead me down. So, I’m learning to just say “no” to them.

Becoming frustrated, though, that one has proven to be a little trickier to outmaneuver. I mean, after all, becoming frustrated is a natural part of life, and God even says that we can experience righteous anger. But, the frustration to which I am referring is not the righteous kind. It’s the kind that grips you, and before you know it you’re ready to tell certain individuals to leave you alone, grow up, and then get a life. 

But that, my dears, is definitely not what God meant when He said that righteous anger is permissible. He said that we are to be careful so as not to sin in our anger (yes, I paraphrased it). So, we can become angry, frustrated, upset (and the list goes on), but we are not to sin while experiencing those emotions.

What would sinning while experiencing those emotions look like? I’m so glad that you asked that question. It looks like flying off the handle and giving that certain offender a piece of your mind. Keeping your mouth shut while giving said person mean looks, thinking negative things about that person, or going out of your way not to be helpful to him or her. And those are just a few possibilities.

Yes, it doesn’t have to be substantially overt, negative behavior in order to land squarely in the category of sin. It simply has to be anything that is against God and against the manner in which He calls us to live our lives.

Now, how exactly does all of this tie into the idea of perspective? Look at you, you’re on a roll. You see, the way that we view circumstances, especially those situations/people that don’t fill us with the warm-and-fuzzies, in other words, our perspective, determines the quality of life that we experience while negotiating those challenging corners of life. I told you that I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.

So, when we run into opposition, it seems as though Murphy rolled into every nook and cranny of our lives, or we find ourselves being assaulted by the what ifs and the shoulda-coulda-wouldas, perspective is key. Either we will choose to roll over and allow life’s bulldozers to flatten us and our thinking, hope, and motivation too, or we will see the Hand of God moving in everything, stealthily protecting us from devastation, ushering us out of the direct line of fire, and cushioning us with His grace.

Sure, it’s not the most enjoyable thing to face any sort of challenge, but knowing that God uses those challenges to polish us, mature us, deepen our walk and relationship with Him, and allow Him the room to fully reign in our lives, puts the importance of perspective in perspective.

So, I encourage all of us who are dealing with some challenging circumstances to check on our perspectives and ensure that they are in line with the type and quality of life that we truly want to live, make up our minds that we are in this to win this and that with God on our side nothing and no one can stop us, lift our heads up and move forward. After all, God has got us, so we’ve definitely got this!!! #sanguinemango