I’ve been doing some work in my tiny backyard, trying to liven things up a bit. I replaced my broken bird bath (finally…yay!) and pulled out some paint to bring new life to a very old/rusted trellis, which I hung over a section of the fence that Bella (my ornery dog) has scratched up. I touched up the paint on my metal flowers and moved things around a bit.
A short time later, I decided to spend some time on my wicker bench, just soaking in the perfect weather. When I sat down, I glanced over at my new birdbath and smiled, so happy to have it in place once more. Then, as I got to looking a bit closer, I noticed the basin was sitting a bit lopsided in the base. (You might recall the last one fell and broke….hence the need for the replacement.)
In that moment, I felt God tug at my heart. I heard the word, “perspective.” From up above, everything looked fine. But when I changed my perspective, I could see the problem. Seated on that bench, all was revealed.
God wants to change our perspective today. He wants us to begin to see all that’s swirling around us from an eternal perspective. Too often we come up with non-eternal thoughts/answers to problems that really require a different perspective. We don’t see how lopsided the basin of our heart/thoughts/actions really are. We need to ask for His eyes to see and His ears to hear what’s going on–not just in the world around us, but in our personal situations, as well.
If we could catch a glimpse from his point of view, we would know better how to pray. We would fret less. We would expand our faith. We would walk in the assurance that He’s in charge. You know, my good friend Kathleen Y’Barbo always says (when things go wrong): “God hasn’t fallen off His throne.” It’s true! I repeat that phrase to myself when the world seems as off-kilter as my bird bath basin was. (Yes, I fixed it!) He’s high and lifted up, seated on the throne, and there He will remain, no matter what swirls around us, down here on earth. We’ve got to get our heads and hearts into that realm so that we can truly begin to trust the One seated on the throne with every single area of our lives.
We can, you know. He’s a trustworthy God. Let the mountains tremble. Let the earth quake. Let kingdoms rise and fall. He will still be right there, seated on that throne, seeing all of it in light of eternity.
“Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.“
(Colossians 3:1-2)
