Perspectives Change

It’s funny how our perspectives change in life.  When I was first faced with the prospect of having adult braces (after already having them in high school), I said, “no way.” I wasn’t going to touch that idea with a ten foot pole. Then, when it repeatedly came up over the years and the idea escalated to braces AND jaw surgery… everything in me JUST wanted to do braces. “I’d give anything to just have to do braces!”

When my baby girl started looking at colleges, I did not want her to go to college an hour away. Then she started looking at colleges several states away and I was like, “Please, choose the one that’s only an hour away!”

Oh, how the years and the situation can change our perspective!

That’s how it’s been in my life with so many things. And I’ll bet it’s been the same way in yours.

We can be so adamant about things…. Until down the road, we see them differently. We feel them differently.

Maybe, you’d call it karma. Some people might call it maturity.  I call it, being humbled. Because our pride speaks so often in our lives. It speaks quickly, and LOUDLY.  Until we are forced to confront things in a different light.

Sometimes it’s funny. You can joke about how you used to say such and such, then turned out to be right where you said you’d never be.

Sometimes it’s painful.  You don’t want people mentioning the past AT ALL, because things might have been easier.

But sometimes, it doesn’t matter at all what we WOULD have done, or what we said in the past. Because, God has His own plans and agenda for our lives. He likes to stir us up; when we don’t like to be stirred.

That’s how we grow.

That’s why we rely on Him.

In our own strength and control, we have little to no need for His impact or influence in our life.

I wish with everything in me, that I could embrace things better. I wish I could have peace of heart that was ready to accept any outcome. But I’m human. And I don’t.

So, the lesson I’m learning is to try to keep an open mind about people. About things. About situations. Because tables can so easily turn. Change can so easily happen.

Our perspectives in life are colored by our experiences. So, it’s important for us to remember that we haven’t experienced ALL of those colors or shades. That there are options, alternatives, and outcomes different than what we want or envision.

They may even be better.

Not everything is going to go how we thought it would go. If we let it, those are the exact times that can turn us into better people. Those very things that change our priorities and perspectives – can change our hearts.

We just need to let them.