Keeping Perspective: Eyes to See

God said, “Let there be…” And everything life-giving that we experience is from that indescribably awesome moment when God spoke. From Genesis (the first book of the Bible) we learn that God made everything in creation and “it was very good.”

If you believe this story, if you believe that an eternal and supernatural being has created everything there is, and if you believe what another section of the Bible says about him, namely that he is Love, then what do you expect from the world you live in?

Based on the number of let downs and failures and friends and family who have died too soon, you might not be expecting much from life. Maybe you’ve come to distrust it. That’s what happens when we come face-to-face with pain and suffering. There’s a lot of it in this world. So much, in fact, that it’s quite easy to believe that whatever created us or whoever the creator is, he either doesn’t care about us or he’s not as great and good and loving as a lot of people have said he is.

But to drift into the dark place of thinking life is nothing more than a scam, or a cheat, is to make a choice. It means choosing to look away from all the great moments that life offers us. Every. Single. Day.

Becoming jaded is easy. It takes faith and gratitude for the everyday things, the little things in life, to remain thankful for the good things in life. Friend, everyday there’s more good around us than we ever take in.

But it’s easy to be blind to the good things of life, especially when your fourteen-month-old has been up since 4:00am and your three-and-half-year-old thinks it’s fun to wake him up at 7:00am…right after he’s fallen asleep. Ugh! Of course, there are far worse things that happen than this, but some days it doesn’t take much to lose perspective.

Keeping perspective. That’s the important thing to remember. Remembering that every good and perfect gift comes from God. All the glorious beauty of nature, the precious moments with your children, spouse, mother, and father. Eating. Drinking. Working. It’s all a gift. It’s all good just like God intended it to be—if you have the eyes to see it that way.

Here’s an idea. Take a few minutes today and write down the things you’re most thankful for. If you can’t do that then say the list aloud to yourself. And then reflect on the power that this simple exercise has to change your perspective. I’m telling you. There are a lot of good things that God has given you. Do you have the eyes to see them?