The last few months the word that keeps coming to mind, being put on my heart, and one that is whispered to me in my times of whining is:
PERSPECTIVE
Apparently, this is my word for the year, and it has changed me in a great deal. WE all whine. We all have situations in our lives that we feel are tough. They might be tough, but one thing I have realized is there is two different kinds of tough situations. The first kind, will only last a moment or for a season. Now while you are in that season, you may at many times feel like it is NEVER going to end, but it will and you in your inner most heart know it. Then there is the Earth shattering tough. The kind, that may never go away, will change your universe as you know it, and will grow you in your faith and outlook more than you ever could have imagined. Either situation that we face and want to whine and complain about takes perspective, for somewhere out there, in our not far distant circle are people whose situation is worse.
When I was little, and didn't want to finish my dinner, my Grandmother (GG to my kids now) would threaten to send it to the starving children in.................(fill in the blank, for she did!) It was hard as a child to imagine kids in a world and place I could hardly imagine starving. Yet, they were, and still are. Perspective comes into play more, when you aren't focusing on the kids in ................... but rather, on people you know or see in our world around us daily.
Here is a sample of what is to come on Perspective. My family was waiting in line at a Lego store for the free monthly build. It was hot, and sort of a long line. As my children were beginning to whine, be bored, and basically be kids, we turned the corner of the vinyl ropes containing the flow of the line. Behind us, now in our line of site was another family. They had several kids, and were just as hot and tired. However, as I stood observing this family, the Dad reaches in the backpack connected to his daughter's wheelchair (Perspective #1) and pulls out her feeding bag, and proceeded to "feed" his daughter. (Perspective #2). You see my attitude changed in an instant. At that moment, it didn't matter how hot, tired, bored, aggravated, or irritated I was with waiting. I have been blessed with two very healthy kids. They can walk, and eat on their own. Whatever I had to whine about, I heard a small voice saying "What would they say to your problems and whining. They would probably trade you in an instant.
My lessons on perspective are not all that drastic, but it is one that has stuck with me for the last month or so. There have been many lessons, which I don't know if I will share or not, and every week God seems to be showing me there are more. Next time you whine, I challenge you to take a look at perspective and I am confident you will find it.
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