PERSPECTIVE
BY JENN SCHMIDT
VGP OFFICE ASSISTANT & GRAPHIC DESIGN
VGP OFFICE ASSISTANT & GRAPHIC DESIGN
The kids were in school, my husband was working, and I had the day off, so I decided to take a solo drive out of town to the beautiful hills of Dunvegan. I had previously arranged that week to meet up with a friend, a former piano teacher from when I was a teenager for some mini golf. One of the stops we made was to the gift & flower shop where they sold all sorts of plants, flowers, decor, and farmers market style groceries.
Now please understand me – when I say I don’t like bugs, ESPECIALLY spiders, it’s a really, really BIG understatement. I am NOT in any way, shape or form, a bug person. They creep me out – and tend to make my scream-like alarm go off, and my feet start running. I have forced my own children to come to my rescue on many occasions from bugs, beetles, ants and sooo many spiders. I have a hard time even saying the word 'spider' without getting the 'ICK' bumps all up and down my spine. So yes, a major dislike of bugs.
So here we are, just my friend and I scanning some gorgeous flowers (flowers are flowers to me, I don’t have a green thumb at all, so I just call them all ‘flowers’), when behold, I came across some that looked from a distance like they were speckled with sparkles in a bunch. It intrigued me, and I do really like shinny things, so off I went to explore – only to get really close to it and discover that the so called ‘sparkles’ were NOT sparkles at all – they were a large nest of baby spiders littered all throughout this one plant. Well, I tell ya, it was really icky. Goose bumps crawled up and down my spine, and I wanted out of there. My feet wanted to run, and I wanted to jump in the nearby river to wash any trace of any "sparkles" that may have beat the odds and jumped the 5 feet to get on me.
Being in public, I didn’t exactly want to make a giant scene, so instead of screaming at the top of my lungs, and running far far away as fast as I could, I somehow managed to take a huge breath and walked across the room, quickly to other plants that didn’t contain any ‘sparkles’.
That’s when I said “God, that was totally gross! Seriously, why did I have to see that?”. I sensed Him saying back to me “ok, now take a few moments, and when you’re ready, go back over there, and look at them again. This time, I want to show you what they look like through MY eyes.”
“Huh? You want me to go back over there?” – as usual, I thought God must be crazy because He KNOWS I don’t like bugs. Not one bit. I wondered if it finally happened - God must have cracked! Right?
But with such great amount of reluctance, and almost tears, I did it anyway. After having a good look at the other plants, even picking one out to bring home for our yard, I set my plant down, and went back over to the icky, yucky, 8 legged, creepy critter, man eating baby spiders – and I just stood there. Watching. After waiting a few moments, I got a little closer. Close enough to really see them. Watch them crawling - and soon, they started to change. They didn’t seem so scary. They were just babies - little ones playing around on their flower. I could feel joy begin to birth in watching these little baby spiders. He let me see them through HIS eyes. Through HIS heart. I could feel His joy in watching what HE created. I maybe didn’t love them like HE does, but I began to understand that HE DOES love them, because He made them. I got to see those itty-bitty baby spiders through His perspective.
How many times have we done the same thing - maybe not with spiders , but with people?
You know who I’m talking about – the ones that are different. The ones we don’t understand. The ones that don’t fit in our ‘groups’ or conform to our 'normal' boxes. The ones we don’t agree with, or the ones that aren’t living how WE think they should live.
Romans 5:8 says that While we were still sinners, Christ died for us …. So He didn’t care that we were icky, yucky, stinky, creepy, sinners - He loved us anyway. It was HIS perspective that made us worth loving.
What about those situations that seem like we see no light at the end of the tunnel? We see no hope, no way out, no rescue. What about those times where we think “no good could possibly come from this” … I think a lot of us think that quite often in our situations currently, and I've been one too.
Romans 8:28 says that He will work ALL things for good for those who love Him. We can see it as a situation that is all negative – but Gods perspective will see it as an opportunity to show His faithfulness, His love, His strength, His mercy and His goodness. He will see it as an opportunity to show HIS HEART.
It’s about perspective. When we see someone that maybe seems icky and hard to deal with, or a situation that seems tough and hopeless – we need to take a step back, and ask ourselves, “How does GOD see this person? How does GOD see this situation”.
Our perspective can lead us to hopelessness, fear, anxiety and depression.
God’s Perspective will lead us to HOPE, JOY, PEACE, LOVE.
Now please understand me – when I say I don’t like bugs, ESPECIALLY spiders, it’s a really, really BIG understatement. I am NOT in any way, shape or form, a bug person. They creep me out – and tend to make my scream-like alarm go off, and my feet start running. I have forced my own children to come to my rescue on many occasions from bugs, beetles, ants and sooo many spiders. I have a hard time even saying the word 'spider' without getting the 'ICK' bumps all up and down my spine. So yes, a major dislike of bugs.
So here we are, just my friend and I scanning some gorgeous flowers (flowers are flowers to me, I don’t have a green thumb at all, so I just call them all ‘flowers’), when behold, I came across some that looked from a distance like they were speckled with sparkles in a bunch. It intrigued me, and I do really like shinny things, so off I went to explore – only to get really close to it and discover that the so called ‘sparkles’ were NOT sparkles at all – they were a large nest of baby spiders littered all throughout this one plant. Well, I tell ya, it was really icky. Goose bumps crawled up and down my spine, and I wanted out of there. My feet wanted to run, and I wanted to jump in the nearby river to wash any trace of any "sparkles" that may have beat the odds and jumped the 5 feet to get on me.
Being in public, I didn’t exactly want to make a giant scene, so instead of screaming at the top of my lungs, and running far far away as fast as I could, I somehow managed to take a huge breath and walked across the room, quickly to other plants that didn’t contain any ‘sparkles’.
That’s when I said “God, that was totally gross! Seriously, why did I have to see that?”. I sensed Him saying back to me “ok, now take a few moments, and when you’re ready, go back over there, and look at them again. This time, I want to show you what they look like through MY eyes.”
“Huh? You want me to go back over there?” – as usual, I thought God must be crazy because He KNOWS I don’t like bugs. Not one bit. I wondered if it finally happened - God must have cracked! Right?
But with such great amount of reluctance, and almost tears, I did it anyway. After having a good look at the other plants, even picking one out to bring home for our yard, I set my plant down, and went back over to the icky, yucky, 8 legged, creepy critter, man eating baby spiders – and I just stood there. Watching. After waiting a few moments, I got a little closer. Close enough to really see them. Watch them crawling - and soon, they started to change. They didn’t seem so scary. They were just babies - little ones playing around on their flower. I could feel joy begin to birth in watching these little baby spiders. He let me see them through HIS eyes. Through HIS heart. I could feel His joy in watching what HE created. I maybe didn’t love them like HE does, but I began to understand that HE DOES love them, because He made them. I got to see those itty-bitty baby spiders through His perspective.
How many times have we done the same thing - maybe not with spiders , but with people?
You know who I’m talking about – the ones that are different. The ones we don’t understand. The ones that don’t fit in our ‘groups’ or conform to our 'normal' boxes. The ones we don’t agree with, or the ones that aren’t living how WE think they should live.
Romans 5:8 says that While we were still sinners, Christ died for us …. So He didn’t care that we were icky, yucky, stinky, creepy, sinners - He loved us anyway. It was HIS perspective that made us worth loving.
What about those situations that seem like we see no light at the end of the tunnel? We see no hope, no way out, no rescue. What about those times where we think “no good could possibly come from this” … I think a lot of us think that quite often in our situations currently, and I've been one too.
Romans 8:28 says that He will work ALL things for good for those who love Him. We can see it as a situation that is all negative – but Gods perspective will see it as an opportunity to show His faithfulness, His love, His strength, His mercy and His goodness. He will see it as an opportunity to show HIS HEART.
It’s about perspective. When we see someone that maybe seems icky and hard to deal with, or a situation that seems tough and hopeless – we need to take a step back, and ask ourselves, “How does GOD see this person? How does GOD see this situation”.
Our perspective can lead us to hopelessness, fear, anxiety and depression.
God’s Perspective will lead us to HOPE, JOY, PEACE, LOVE.
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