Free Download: She Sees Outline
I learned a valuable lesson about perspective during the second semester of my son’s senior year in high school. I discovered the way we view our circumstances is extremely powerful. As my son’s graduation loomed closer and closer, I realized I was struggling under a dark cloud of depression. I felt like I was smothering under it’s heaviness. Jarod is an only child and I was finding it difficult to release him into the world to fly on his own. Had we taught him everything he needed to know? Is he ready to live in another town, away from home? Was he ready to handle the pressure of earning a degree in the difficult field of mechanical engineering? And what about me? How could I possibly let him out of my grasp? The thought of an empty nest felt like it was emptying me of my reason for living. I was about to experience my firstborn leaving home and empty nest syndrome in one cruel swoop. The sadness lasted for months, until one fateful day in early May when everything changed in a moment. And it had everything to do with perspective, the lens through which I was seeing things through.
It was a beautiful spring day so I decided I would go to the cemetery and replace the flowers on my dad’s grave. As I approached his headstone, I noticed a woman a few plots away, cleaning her son’s headstone with a rag. I was familiar with the situation. Her son was the same age as Jarod and had been killed in an automobile accident early in his senior year. I felt her hollowness, as she slowly and gingerly wiped the dirt and grass clippings away. The weight of her sadness was reflected in her eyes and my heart broke for her. It was in that moment, when I looked into her eyes, everything changed for me.
Immediately, my perspective changed. My son was leaving for college, but I could jump in my car and visit him anytime I wanted. He wouldn’t be in my home, yet he would only be a phone call away. He was alive. I could touch him, hug him, and enjoy his company. I had nothing to be depressed about. Things were working just as God intended for them. We had raised him and trained him the best we knew how, and it was time for him to spread his wings and become who he was created to be. The revelation hit quick. In the blink of an eye, my vision cleared and I saw my circumstances in new light. As quickly as the perspective changed, the cloud of depression that I had been unable to shake suddenly dissipated.
Colossians 3:1- 3 says, Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your heart on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.
I wonder how things might be different, if we changed our lens to see things from Christ’s perspective from the throne. Would the mountain standing in front of you look so tall? What if our perspective was always viewed through the lens of Scripture? Would we see God differently? Would we view ourselves differently? Would we see others differently? Would we see the potential all around us?
Problems. Perspective. Potential. P-words sure are Powerful!
Today is Easter Sunday, may your focus turn to the resurrected Christ, who has disarmed the powers and authorities(Colossians 2:15), and been given all authority in heaven and on earth (Matthew 28:18). My prayer for you is that you find time to take the seat you have been given in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 2:6; Colossians 3:1) and take a look at your world from that perspective and through His eyes.
God bless you, have a wonderful week.
