We are stationed at Ft. Irwin, in the California Mojave Desert and have a 1,000 foot volcanic mountain virtually in our backyard – “Mt. Blackie.” As a family with three boys, we like to make a weekly hike to the top for exercise. On our way up, my 5 year old and I like to look back at how small our van is getting. The other day up I explained to him the artistic term of “perspective” – things in the distance appearing smaller – and was reminded how much I need perspective!

The higher I climb with God – in a daily relationship that puts Him in the driver’s seat and me as the trusting passenger – the more the things of the world shrink in my estimation. I can allow myself to get bound up over so many things like whether or not the house is in order, over-analyzing relationships and conversations, and the endless to-do list that my perspective becomes skewed. Rather than seeing the mountaintop, the minivan becomes a 6 ton monster truck which totally obscures my view – and my vitality.

How about you? What do you do to regain proper perspective of God and His activity in your life? If you need a new view, repent and ask God to take you higher. Many of us are afraid of heights, but we miss the exhilaration therein. Consider carving out time in your calendar – like a weekly hike – to meet with God for an extended period to renew your view. And remember that while we tend to get bound up, His perspective is boundless!

“As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts.”  Isaiah 55:9

Last year, when my husband was deployed, we had a (then) single young woman, Carrie, come to live with us. This was a huge help to me because it gave me a little more flexibility as a mom of young boys, and also provided some adult conversation every now and then.

Best of all, though, was that Carrie found our boys thoroughly entertaining. In sheer maddening parenting moments, Carrie’s amused expression would allow me step back and see the humor, and help me focus on affairs of the heart (mine and theirs), rather than on the current state of affairs.

God is like that. When we welcome his company into our circumstances, however messy, he doesn’t necessarily change the conditions as much as He changes our perspective. Suddenly, through Christ-colored-glasses, we are able to glimpse the hope, the joy, the love, and the humor in our homes & in our humanity (even during deployment!).

“There is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.” Proverbs 18:24b

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