Freedom Friday – On Seeing Differently

Have you ever heard of the game called “What Is It?”

Okay, that might not be the official name of the game but the gist of it is to figure out what an object is by looking at only a small portion of it.

Let’s play!

What do YOU see?  Can you tell me what this object is?

I’ll zoom out a little so you can see a bit more.  Got it?

Here is another portion of the object,

and another,

and yet another.

Okay, by now I’m sure you’ve come up with some really good guesses and from this last picture you’ve surely figured out that this is a building of some sort . . .

. . . and you are absolutely right.

It is a bird house of course!

So what was the purpose of this little game?  Because there always has to be a purpose, right?

Welcome to FREEDOM FRIDAY – A new devotional, emotional, spiritual and sometimes hysterical series that I will be sharing on occasional Fridays, in addition to my regular Old Things New posts.

Looking at things from a different perspective . . . or Seeing Differently . . . is something that has been on my mind a lot lately, especially since we are in a new place, a place of transition, and we really don’t know what the future holds for us here.

But then none of us really knows what the future holds do we?

 

I don’t know if you are at all like me but when I am in a place of uncertainty, whether that be a minor insecurity or a great upheaval of my little world, I tend to look waaayyyy . . . off into the distance and try to figure what the future holds for me.

When I’m in a place of insecurity I tend to come up with a lot of ideas of my own as to what God might have planned for my future.  Maybe I’ll be doing this or maybe I’ll be doing that.  Maybe I’ll be serving in this church or that one.  Maybe . . . maybe . . . maybe . . .

I tend to think too much!

And pretty soon my head is spinning sideways.

It is all futile really because we have no idea what the path set before us will hold.  In fact, it can all change in a moment, as I’ve seen recently with two different friends whose husbands have had strokes, disrupting all of the plans that they had laid out so precisely before them.

So what can I do?  One thing I can do is to stop focusing on things that “might” be and simply see the beauty in today.

This is a view through my camera lens, zoomed in to show detail.  The texture, the play of light and shadow, the imperfections of my subject, all are clearly shown.

As I walked through my yard this morning I walked (carefully because I have dogs) looking through the lens of my camera.  I am able to see things much differently that way . . . things I don’t notice with the naked eye.

There is great beauty in the details that I often miss when I look at the whole picture.

Like this hard and grainy rock.

Trying to take in the whole picture of my life at once can be overwhelming!

Seeing a small piece of the whole picture and choosing to be thankful for the beauty that is in each day gives one a sense of peace and also a new appreciation for the whole.

Getting down low to take a close up can open your eyes to new wonders you’ve never before known!

I know from personal experience that life can be hard.  Perhaps you too are in a difficult season.  What can you do about it?  You can fall into worry, and start asking all the “What if” questions:

“What if I can’t save enough money to retire?”

“What if my health fails?”

“What if I never find a husband?”

“What if I never get a good job?”

“What if the economy fails?”

And for me:

“Will we ever find a church home?”

“Will we ever make friends here in our new city?”

“Will we ever feel like we are making a difference in others lives again?”

In the midst of our worries we will almost certainly neglect to take in the beauty around us.  And it is there!  No matter what your circumstance there is beauty to be seen if you will open up your eyes to a new way of seeing and ask God to show you the beautiful.

If I truly trust God I can leave my future in His hands and turn my focus toward what is happening in my life today, right this moment.  I can choose to enjoy the beauty of the moment even as I might also be feeling the pain of the moment.  The message here isn’t about seeing the world through rose colored glasses, though sometimes I wish I had a set of those.  It is about releasing control of the hard things of life to the One who knows what is best for me, and then choosing to see good even in the midst of it my pain.  Then giving THANKS in all things!

Prayer:

I have been know to link to the following Inspirational Parties:

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MONDAY

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