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| Maybe it is time to change the way you think? Alter your perspective? |
What shade of "perspective" life glasses are YOU wearing? And is what you are viewing through them *really* what lays ahead? Maybe with this new year it is time to think about "changing your perspective." Take off those ol' negative life glasses and put on a new pair. Maybe make a checklist of the things you want to change in your life and then slowly examine how you can go about checking them off. Make a change... Change is not easy, but I have found that nothing worth anything is...
I recently had a (non-cancer related) surgery at the suggestion of my oncologist. It was suppose to be an "easy" in and out surgery - and while the surgery went well, I had complications which put me in the hospital for six days. This was *not* in my plans of how to start the New Year. As I lay in the hospital, I found myself thinking about life and how precious it is. How we simply wake up every morning feeling as though "we are owed today." The truth is - we are NOT. Each day IS a gift and we often forget that. Here I was, in the hospital not knowing when I would get out, grumbling at this turn of events. All I could think about was how much of a total inconvenience and screw up this was to the start of my New Year. Then I overhead a conversation a doctor was having with my hospital roommate, who had lung cancer, HIV, blood clots and oh so many other health problems. It kind of made my problems seem so trivial, and I realized how much I needed to change my perspective...
Life is a series of lessons. What are you learning about yourself? Or are you so focused on someone else's short comings that you haven't taken the time to examine or consider your own? (Hmmmmmm....) Over the last 4 years of my life I have realized again and again that it truly is nothing but God's grace, mercy, forgiveness and love that keeps me going. I have realized that there are so many things I need to change about ME and that I could *never* play judge or be critical of someone else. The truth is that unless you walk in someone else's shoes you have NO idea what it is they are going through. Man looks at the outward appearance - God looks at the heart. Maybe that is where compassion comes in? My lifestyle may be so different then someone else's and I *may* not agree with someone else's life style - but it is *not* for me to judge. It is God's job. When I look back on my life prior to being a Prodigal, I can see that how I meant to live - in love may have come off as judgmental to someone else and I truly think that is why God allowed me to go through humble experience after humble experience to show that how I was living was not showing compassion and love I had thought... The Bible tells us "that our righteousness is as filthy rags." My perspective has changed. Not my faith, not God's word - but my own perspective about ME and how God wanted me to view other people. I have found that through the change in my perspective I am able to love people more. I am able to listen better. I am able to pray more effectively. I am able to walk in love. Not compromising my faith or my own lifestyle - but with a better understanding of others.
Are you walking in love? Are you walking in forgiveness? Are you walking humbly or are you strutting down the streets of your life, as if YOU own the whole road? It only takes one unexpected thing to make you realize how precious life is... How about not putting off those changes you've been considering? Working towards them? Knowing that you "can teach" an old dog new tricks - it just may take a longer amount of time. But in the long run, it really is so worth it... It truly is...
