It has been a busy, wonderful past week. Last Thursday, we welcomed a new grandson, Ezekiel Daniel Yao Tan into our
family. This blessed event just
confirmed in my mind, that there is just nothing better than being a grandma!
During these past days, I’ve been thinking about the word
“perspective”. Ezekiel weighed in at 8
lbs 12 oz and was 22” long. For many,
this sounds like a pretty good size baby, but to us, he seems fairly
small. The reason is that his brother,
Elias, weighed a little over 11 lbs when he was born almost two years ago. So it depends on which view or perspective a
person has when they think about his size.
To help our daughter and son-in-law during this time, we have
kept Elias in our home for the past week.
Having a 22-month here reminds me why we have our children when we are
young. We absolutely love having him
here, but it takes a lot of energy to keep up with him! I realized though, as I cared for him, how
much my perspective has changed over the years.
When my children were young, I was much more focused on making sure all
of the details in my home were taken care of and things were running
smoothly. Now with my grandson, my
perspective as to what is critical to accomplish while we are together has
changed. I now realize that there are
very few things in this life that are more important than spending time with my
grandchildren.
I also became another year older this past weekend. I’m guessing that to many people, I’ve got
one foot in the grave since I turned 56.
But if I talk to some of the people I know who are in their 80’s and
90’s…I’m just a young whiper-snapper! It all has to do with their perspective.
Then yesterday we had the privilege of worshipping with our
church family. It is a holiday where
some peoples’ perspective is to see the Easter Bunny and get lots of
candy. The story of a risen King is just
a fable to them; whereas we know it to be truth. Our perspective, or view, is that Christ gave
His all…sacrificing himself on a cross for our sins…and then rising three days
later so that we could spend eternity with Him.
The dictionary says that perspective means, “a particular
attitude toward or way of regarding something; a point of view.” This past week has reminded me that as I age,
my attitudes and points of view have changed, due to my life experiences and
hopefully my maturity. I often hear
people say, “If I would have only known then what I know now…things would have been
different.” Of course they would have
been, but we don’t have that option. And,
no matter what we would have known “then”, we still would see things
differently now.
It is impossible for us to change our past but we can look at
our present as we prepare for our future.
So the question then becomes, are our perspectives changing for the
better as we age and mature, or have we allowed the world to change our
perspectives by drawing us down to it’s level?
Are we consumed with the “what-if’s” and “should-haves” of our past, displaying
nothing but negativity to those we meet, or are we progressing on and moving
closer to look more and more like Christ?
Are our perspectives based on Biblical truths or just fables or hearsay?
As we go through our week, let’s spend some time evaluating our
perspectives. Are they bringing glory to
Him and drawing others closer to the risen King…or are our views so much like
the world that no one would know we are a child of this King? The world is in desperate need to see Jesus
“with skin on”…not just clones of themselves.
It is our responsibility to make sure our views point them to the King
of Kings and Lord of Lords.
“So we
tell others about Christ, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all the
wisdom God has given us. We want to present them to God, perfect in their
relationship to Christ.”
Colossians
1:28 (NLT)
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