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perspective

There Are Two Ways to Look at Things

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I Choose to Believe in Miracles

 

 

“There are only two ways to live your life. One is as though nothing is a miracle. The other is as though everything is a miracle.” Albert Einstein


We have become spoiled and forget to be grateful for the miracles that surround us every day. We can be grateful or not, this is a choice. Being grateful requires an intentional decision.


Gratitude is how we show love. Being grateful and acting upon that gratefulness can be as simple as a spoken thank you or as big as how we live our lives every day.


Gratitude is a perspective. It’s how we see things. We can see only the negative or we can see the positive. It sounds cliché but it’s real and it makes a difference on how you treat life and how life treats you.


Gratitude is a choice. We can choose to be grateful or not but being grateful is a much better way to approach life. We have been given so much. Shouldn’t we be thankful for all that we have?


A young man was driven to college in an old car by his dad. Several of the students saw the car and began to tease the young man. The young man looked at them and said, “That old car is the reason I’m Here”. He went on to explain that his father decided to save money for his college education rather than spending it on a new car.


This son was grateful for his father’s love and the choice he made. This changed his perspective. If this son could be grateful for what his father did for him, shouldn’t we be exponentially more grateful to our Heavenly Father for all the miracles He’s given us.

 

The Land of “What If” or the Land of “What Is”

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Which One Have You Been Living In?

 

If you don’t like where you’re living, you can move.


Moving is not much fun. It takes a lot of work to pack up your life, along with all the stuff you’ve accumulated over the years. The end destination can be worth the work, if you’re moving to the right place.

 


How do we know where the right place to live is?


The definitions of, if and is, are a good place to start. Meriam-Webster defines if as follows; 1. in the event that, 2. allowing that, 3. on the assumption that, 4. on condition that. These statements leave things open ended and uncertain. Asking these questions can help us find answers and direction, but don’t involve the physical act of moving.


The important thing is to not get stuck in the land of “What If”.


On the other hand, is, is defined with one word – be. Being is a real tangible existing thing. The first example Meriam-Webster gives is, God is love. God lives in the land of “What Is”. God is…


Some people who live in the land of What If see all the possibilities out on the horizon. Some see all of the negative things that could go wrong. Others see this as a big land of exciting adventures. This dream world can be a great place to live. The problem is that in the land of What If, nothing ever becomes What Is.


Pastor Lee told a story of a boy in the hospital after being diagnosed with Leukemia. As would be expected he was down and depressed. He was asking all the questions that would normally be asked. He couldn’t see any future, he was living in the negative land of What If.


When he received some flowers from his aunt, he noticed there were two cards. The first was the normal well wishing from his aunt. The other one was from the salesclerk at the flower shop, it shared her own struggle with the disease years earlier. This card changed his perspective and made a more immediate difference than any of the medical treatments.


Jesus came to earth as a human. He has felt our pain and knows what it’s like. In Revelation 7:9-17 we get a view of What Is. It is a land of plenty, where we won’t be hungry or thirsty, it will be the perfect temperature and no sadness. We don’t have to worry about What If.


Regardless of which place we live; it comes down to perspective. Which place are you going to live, the land of “What If or the land of “What Is”?

 

 

Living Life Well Is All About Perspective

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What Ever Your Situation – Attitude Makes All the Difference

Perspective is “a particular way of viewing things that depends on one’s experience and personality”. Our individual perspective effects every part of our lives. It’s up to us to decide how we are going to view things.

As a part of preparing for the new year, I reviewed the past one. In many aspects this past year was a dismal failure. Revenue was considerably less than our target. It was even less than the previous several years. We didn’t get anywhere near the blog traffic that we planned to. It would be easy to focus on those negative things and let them become my perspective.

At the same time there were several positive things that happened during the past year. While the financial numbers were down, we paid off more debt than any previous year. My goal was to write and post at least one solution each week and I did.

Years ago, I would have fixated on the negative and not seen the positive. This disappointment would have been the way I viewed things. This unproductive attitude would have been blocking my moving forward to bigger and better things. This was not any way to live life well.

At a point nine or ten years ago, I decided I was tired of living in this negative funk. There was no one specific thing that caused this shift, but rather a collection of small things. They consisted of reading, learning, journaling, praying and believing. Over those years I didn’t realize the difference that was happening but now looking back I can see and feel a major difference.

We have the power to choose what our attitude is going to be. With this power we can change our perspective. The 5th Decision in The Traveler’s Gift is, “Today I Will Choose to be Happy”. In this Joyful Decision, Anne Frank says, “Our very lives are fashioned by our choice. First we make choices. Then our choices make us.”

I’m not saying that it’s some easy flip a switch kind of magic. It’s hard work, but worth it. If you fall down, you get back up. When you fall down the next time you get back up again. We’ve all seen kids learning to walk. They don’t try it once, fall down, and never try again. They’re persistence is what makes it happen. They keep trying over and over, one small step at a time, until they succeed. They don’t give up.

With it being the New Year many of the blogs and podcasts that I follow have focused on planning and goal setting. One of those was Ray Edwards interviewing Cliff Ravenscraft about how to make our resolutions stick. In the interview they talk about how we may not have control over the circumstances, but we always have control over how we will choose to respond or what actions we will take. To make this point they use Nick Vujicic as an example of perseverance. He was born with no arms or legs and has achieved and accomplished more things than most people. If you feel that you had a rough year and things didn’t go like you had planned, you need to quit whining and watch these videos.

Perseverance.  The story of Nick Vujicic

If we keep moving forward and continue getting back up after we’re knocked down anything is possible…just ask Nick.

nick vujicic on OPRAH SHOW

I will persist without exception.