What a good day we had, Father! It was good at church, good visiting with Karen’s mom, and good with Karen and I running some errands and enjoying a meal together. Thank You for so many blessings!
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So, looking at the picture above, what do you see? Is it a photo of a snow-covered mountain range taken from a satellite? Or could it be a close-up shot of the side of some reptilian species?
Well, what if I told you it was a picture I took of the windshield of Karen’s van after a heavy frost this past Friday morning? (Click this link to see the original photo.)
Perspective.
So many things in our lives impact the kind of people we become – adversity, love, pain, blessings, prosperity, poverty, abuse, encouragement… That list could go on in perpetuity. There are no two of us the same. And we rarely see the same things in the same way.
We may see things as a satellite might picture them – from high and above, cold and disconnected.
We might view things from a very up close and personal standpoint…but because of that, our perspective might very well be skewed in that we are incapable of seeing the bigger picture.
All kinds of people are around us daily; we may know many of them very well, some of them to a certain degree, and others are total strangers. No matter which group other people fall into, as followers of Jesus, we must allow grace to factor into our viewpoints and interactions. Allowing grace to factor in opens the portals of love.
Time and again, I am shocked at how narrow-minded we are. We have this attitude that if someone thinks differently than we do, they are wrong, which leads to the thought that there is no chance for any middle ground.
The Apostle Peter stated in his first epistle,
Above all, have fervent and unfailing love for one another, because love covers a multitude of sins [it overlooks unkindness and unselfishly seeks the best for others]. 1 Peter 4:8 AMP
If Jesus – God Almighty, in the flesh – loved us so much that He humbled Himself to the point of coming to live amongst us, why can’t we find a modicum of humility when it comes to our interactions with others? We must strive to keep our perspectives open, for truly, we may not be seeing things as they are.
Lord Jesus, help us to seek out Your perspective. Ours are too limited by far too many differing and debilitating elements. Only Yours takes in all possibilities and factors in Your grace and love to its fullest degree. May we love others as You love us. Now, that is a challenge!
Feb 18th, 2024, Sun, 6:30 pm
