Perspective

     He wandered around our home for over an hour, room to room . . . CLICK, CLICK, CLICK.  The sounds from the old, chipped camera filled the air as my four year-old tirelessly continued to press the shutter button.  I didn't think much of it at the time -- in fact, it wasn't till all of my children were sound asleep that I remembered the old camera was still sitting silent on the counter.

     I half-sighed as I picked up the camera, assuming I would find a plethora of blurry pictures that would need to be deleted . . . but to my surprise, as the scratched, digital screen came to life, there before my eyes began a collection of pictures that took a moment's breath away from me.  The screen filled with marvelous pictures of all different rooms and people, but at angles and heights I had never viewed.

     How could I delete these little wonders of perspective, from a view that was so distinctly different than mine?

     Then, it was as if God began to whisper, "I have a perspective totally different than yours, too, my daughter.  Rest in me to bring fullness to your pictures of life." 

     My mind went to the verse in Isaiah 55 that says God's thoughts are not our thoughts and neither are His ways our ways.  It is so true!  In fact, as many times as I've assumed I knew what God was going to do or that I thought I knew what something was going to look like in the days ahead -- in hindsight, I haven't had it figured out at all.

     Where is the lesson in all of this?  The perspective found in the hands of my four year-old that day reminded me of an age old truth . . . God is the ONLY ONE who's vantage point offers the complete picture of my life.  As His child, I need to let go of forcing my ways and let His ways reign over everything.  My eyes set on Jesus will eventually answer any questions I have along the way!

"Don't shuffle along, eyes to the ground,

absorbed with the things right in front of you.

Look up, and be alert to what is going on around

Christ - that's where the action is.  See things from

HIS PERSPECTIVE."

Colossians 3:2

Don't Count

     We love math!  Well, most of the time . . . but being a homeschooling family requires that most days hold lots of time for counting and multiplying, dividing and subtracting.  In fact, we never really outgrow math, do we?  As we get older we just find different applications for the same principles we learned when we were young.

     There is one area of my life that I believe God has shown me to stop using math in, and that is in the area of "counting" and effectiveness! 

     Don't you find we are surrounded by people, books and experiences that tell us we are only effective in this world if the numbers are significant?

     If we plan a birthday party, we think the number of people who come reflect popularity.  If we teach Sunday School, we want to know how many kids were in our class.  If we lead a Bible Study, we're tempted to feel we have accomplished more if there are larger numbers in attendance.  Even pastors often fall into the trap of evaluating their effectiveness on the number of people that show up on a Sunday morning. 

     We live in a society that is compelled to count!

     In the book of I Chronicles we are told that mighty king David was tempted by Satan to count the number of fighters that were in Israel.  When David gave the decree for the men to be counted, he acted in willful disobedience towards God and he was severely punished for it.  In fact, God gave him three choices for a consequence; three years of famine, three months of being swept away before his enemies, or three days of plague ravaging all of Israel.  Notice that all the options were wide-spread and would affect far more than just David who sinned in the counting of men.  In the end, he chose the plague and 70,000 men died -- huge ramifications for what seemed an insignificant decision.

     When we determine our effectiveness by "counting" numbers in the areas we're involved in, we are succumbing to using our ways to determine God's outcomes.   

     The point is not to live in fear of God striking down thousands of people -- the point is this:  Satan will tempt us to get our eyes off of what is truly important and valuable and try to put them onto things that are shallow with the world's ways of determining our effectiveness.  That is not God's method! 

     It's been said that, "We are not called to success, we are not called to failure; we are only called to obedience."

     If we spend our days wiping drippy, red noses and picking up dump trucks and dollies, we may not feel very "effective" most days . . . BUT God sees way beyond what we think is trivial and He calls us to invest in our sweet, little children.  May we NEVER be found "counting" our success in the simple accomplishments that we're surrounded by -- it may be years before the fruit of our lives shines -- but we can rest assured that nothing goes unnoticed by God.

"Those who obey His commands

live in Him, and He in them."

I John 3:24