It's all in how you look at it

Good morning! I hope you had a great weekend.

This week all eyes will be on the American economy, in particular the financial markets. Over the past several weeks the Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen nearly 2,000 points. For many this has led to a state of panic as they are overtaken by fear, worry and host of other unpleasant emotions. Their current state of emotion is of course grounded in their choice of perspective. For many, this downturn of the market is no different than a red-tag clearance sale at the local department store…a buying opportunity.

Ephesians 5:20 (NLT)
And you will always give thanks for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

A few weeks ago I attended a 3 day guided prayer retreat. One of the exercises we went through went something like this. Our leader asked us in 2 minutes to write down everything we were thankful for. The list flowed with things like friends, family, health, etc… When the 2 minutes was up, the leader asked us to go to another page and now for another 2 minutes list the things we were not thankful for. This list didn’t flow quite as readily, but there were still many things listed. When the time was up, the leader inquired why we weren’t thankful for the things we had just listed. My list of unthankfulness was marked with such things as pain, loss and circumstances that I couldn’t control.

The more I studied that list, the more I realized that there were many issues to be thankful for, but it would require a change of perspective. With God’s help, I made an adjustment to the picture in my soul. This internal cropping of the frame helped me refocus the image of the experience. For example, a time of loss is now seen as a time of knowing God’s miraculous provisions. A time of deep pain is now seen as a time of experiencing the depth of God’s love. A time of failure has now become a great teaching experience.

You get the idea. The experience itself is permanent, but the angle and perspective I view it from are fluid. Today you may find yourself flooded with a sea of emotions over the circumstances in your life and the world around you. I encourage you to step back from the canvass and readjust the frame. Once you bring the lessons, strength and presence of God back into the picture; the picture will take on a whole new appearance and meaning.

Until next Monday, may God’s richest blessings be yours this week.

Carl