It's Amazing What Perspective Can Do
I work around people who don't get much perspective. When something goes wrong, it's so awful. Life is terrible. They flash with such anger and anxiety about things that just aren't that bad. We heard through the grapevine that something was going to make our jobs harder. Now people are stomping around threatening to quit. Or sue! Wow. Take a breath, man. Get a hobby or something.
I find myself laughing at the things I'm hearing. "Oh, so that's what's going to happen next? HA! Don't you think that's funny?" NO I DON'T, they say back. Oh yeah, I forgot. I often forget that I'm looking at things from a vantage point that everyone else around me isn't necessarily sharing.
When you know there are things so much more important than your lunch break, or your professional development requirements, or your list of duties at your job, it just doesn't rip you up inside like it does other people. Take a deep breath. Go somewhere quiet for a minute. And remember. Remember what's important. Listen to a song or a piece of music that reminds you. Read that thing that always reminds you. Shut everything else out for a second and remember that the world is bigger than the problems of this moment.
The same thing goes for my spiritual life. I can think of a thousand things I can do wrong with that. I know so many wrong turns to take in following God, I even forget that I knew some of them. This is multiplied in an active, functioning community of belivers. So many things I can do and say that will NOT benefit the church. But when I feel myself sweating over whether or not I'm "doing it right," I step back a second. Then I remember:
Oh yeah. I didn't start this thing anyway. I heard my name called out in some deep place inside, and I responded. I've felt that voice so many times, and everytime I've followed it I've found the Lord at the end of it. Every time. Like a sheep that gets afraid in a new place, I only need to wait a minute, and I'll hear it. That voice.
I know that voice. It's never steered me wrong. I have nothing to fear. In His care, even if I stumble and fall, He will restore me. What can separate me from such a One as this?
That's so freeing! I'm ready to jump in there and make a bunch of mistakes! Hot dang! I get to screw up all kinds of things today! Then I get to watch and see how my Shepherd will make it all go exactly the way He wants. What a life!
I find myself laughing at the things I'm hearing. "Oh, so that's what's going to happen next? HA! Don't you think that's funny?" NO I DON'T, they say back. Oh yeah, I forgot. I often forget that I'm looking at things from a vantage point that everyone else around me isn't necessarily sharing.
When you know there are things so much more important than your lunch break, or your professional development requirements, or your list of duties at your job, it just doesn't rip you up inside like it does other people. Take a deep breath. Go somewhere quiet for a minute. And remember. Remember what's important. Listen to a song or a piece of music that reminds you. Read that thing that always reminds you. Shut everything else out for a second and remember that the world is bigger than the problems of this moment.
The same thing goes for my spiritual life. I can think of a thousand things I can do wrong with that. I know so many wrong turns to take in following God, I even forget that I knew some of them. This is multiplied in an active, functioning community of belivers. So many things I can do and say that will NOT benefit the church. But when I feel myself sweating over whether or not I'm "doing it right," I step back a second. Then I remember:
Oh yeah. I didn't start this thing anyway. I heard my name called out in some deep place inside, and I responded. I've felt that voice so many times, and everytime I've followed it I've found the Lord at the end of it. Every time. Like a sheep that gets afraid in a new place, I only need to wait a minute, and I'll hear it. That voice.
I know that voice. It's never steered me wrong. I have nothing to fear. In His care, even if I stumble and fall, He will restore me. What can separate me from such a One as this?
That's so freeing! I'm ready to jump in there and make a bunch of mistakes! Hot dang! I get to screw up all kinds of things today! Then I get to watch and see how my Shepherd will make it all go exactly the way He wants. What a life!
posted by Neil at 3:06 PM
4 Comments:
Wow, Neil...wow. And Amen.
Out of our hands, all in His.
THANK YOU GOD.
His peace guards our hearts as we set our minds on Him. It is great to have a Shepherd such as Jesus, when you are a nearsighted sheep like me.
Reminds me of a quote from a song..."Success means nothing...failure, the same.."
Its all an opportunity to learn and grow and see what God will redeem from our messes.
Such a great reminder, I came back here today just to read it again...
"oh yeah...
"Lord."
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