New Year New Me

New Year New Me! Year after year I hear these words. I have even used them myself on occasion. I don’t typically make New Year’s resolutions because I either forget about them by day 3 or break them by the end of January! This year I decided to take a word and make it my motto.  I chose the word PERSPECTIVE!  The dictionary definition of the word Perspective is: Perspective - a particular attitude toward something, or way of regarding something; a point of view.  How will I view the world around me? How will my perspective of things shape my actions, thoughts or emotions? How will I react to a situation? The answer is up to me. 

I thought of this word on New Year’s Eve. We brought in the new year early with my daughter and her family. Because of my grandchildren and their bedtime we celebrated at 9:00 o’clock PM. I’m sure it was midnight somewhere just not in south east Texas where I live. My daughter had planned an incredible evening full of all the right junk food and fireworks to make it memorable for my three grandsons. She even planned a confetti drop for the boys to follow our count down! I helped her cut strips of tissue paper into hundreds of small confetti type pieces. With the help of my son-in-law the drop was set in place. How exciting, right? The count down began; 10…9…8…7…6… at 1 my three grand sons pulled on the strings attached to the drop and hundreds of tiny, colorful pieces of paper came raining down on them. I heard excited shrills of little boy laughter and saw joyful dancing.  Then I notice while one grandson was full of excitement and joy there was another grandson sitting in the middle of the wonderful chaos holding a single piece  of paper and tearing it into smaller pieces. On his face was shear disappointment. I called him over to me and while I held him I asked him why he was so disappointed and reminded him of how hard his mother worked to make this night special for him and his brothers. He mentioned that he understood and appreciated the effort, but he was hoping for toys and candy to come raining down amongst the paper. Perspective! One grandson chose to find the joy while the other wallowed in his own self pity. 

This story reminds me of another story shared with me by my oldest son. He told me about two of his co-workers, brothers, they shared both the same mother and father.  Their father had spent much of their childhood working out of town and because of that he missed many of their milestones. In conversation one brother told my son that he loved and appreciated  everything his dad had done for them growing up and how much his father had to sacrifice while being gone “just so they could have what they needed”. He proceeded to say that his father was his example of a good father, doing what it takes to provide for his family and where he learned his strong work ethic.  A few days later as my son talked to the second brother the same conversation came up. The conversation was very different. Were they even talking about the same man? This brother had a very different perspective of what his father was. He said to my son that he thought his dad to be a selfish man who was never there when they were kids and only cared about making money. WOW! Same dad different perspectives. 

What is your perspective like? Are you seeing things with joy and positivity, or are you the victim and wallowing in self pity?

This year I will choose to see like Jesus. I will choose to see His perspective, to see with my heart just like He does. 

I pray that the eye of your heart, the perception of your mind, the very center of your core, will be flooded with light by the Holy Spirit, so that  you will know and cherish the hope to which He has called you. Ephesians 1:8 (HCSB, AB)