Perspective

​If you have been following along with me, you know how I view the world and what my daily experiences are.  Today is Sunday and we stayed hone from church because we have COVID.  My husband got up early and made a yummy breakfast of bacon, eggs and he had pancake batter all mixed up and ready when another argument broke out.  I don’t even really understand why my husband got mad.  I do NOT respond in anger though - I just mostly stay quiet and pray but sometimes silence is the wrong approach.  But yesterday was a tough day and without going in to too much detail, our daughter was depressed and didn’t eat all day - she spent all day crying in her room.  But this morning, because my husband made her favorite breakfast and then left the house, she decided to leave her room and eat breakfast.  She hasn’t been in her room once since coming downstairs for breakfast.  She watched 2 Charles Stanley messages with me (and her brother) and let me fix lunch which she ate as well.  Without the morning’s events, she might still be on a hunger strike and about to pass out because her body really needs regular meals to function properly.  So even in the bad circumstances of life, I can see the Lord working for our good.

In any case, about perspectives.  Yesterday my husband was talking to me about all the difficulties in his life and how everywhere he goes he finds rude and inconsiderate people.  He reads the news stories and it’s all violence and the area we live in is so spiritually oppressed.  He told me he is afraid to drive anywhere, afraid to encounter violence or rudeness out in public, afraid even to walk out to get the mail or do yard work for fear of an uncomfortable encounter with a neighbor.  By contrast, I glance at the headlines once in awhile to stay informed but mostly ignore the details of the stories.  And everywhere I go I find I encounter kindness and courteous people.  Why are our experiences so different?  I am mot afraid to go out in public.  I look for opportunities to go outside and chat with our neighbors, I volunteer to run errands for my husband and family.  I enjoy going to church and talking with other believers and discovering believers out while shopping and I am encouraged by it all!  

It’s a matter of perspective.  If you are focused on the evil in this world instead of on God’s promise to deliver you from that evil, all you will ever see is evil surrounding you.  But if your eyes are focused on the Lord and His power and love for us, you will see His hand shedding light on darkness and you will be comforted and feel joyful and thankful for His daily gift of mercy.