Changing My Perspective

Thank you again for taking a few minutes to find a miracle with me. I am so excited to see what God has for us today.

Months ago, before I made a conscious decision to drive the speed limit, I was driving down a main road in the city where I work. As I drove, a car veered in front of me, cutting me off and forcing me to hit the brakes with significant force. I would love to tell you that I responded with grace and peace, but that would be a lie! I thought terrible things about the driver and I most certainly did not pronounce a blessing over him or his vehicle! I made presumptions about his driving style and his intellect, moving into full-on judgment mode.

Lost in my angry thoughts, I continued to the hospital where I was going to make a pastoral call on a sick member of our church. When I pulled into the parking lot, I noticed something. The same car that had cut me off was parked in one of the Emergency Department spaces. The vehicle was still running, and the door was left open as the driver had had a medical emergency or was going to see someone they loved in medical distress.  

Suddenly, all of the anger that I had directed at that driver was replaced with empathy. My perspective changed as I realized they hadn’t cut me off intentionally. No, they were just trying to get a place that could offer them help and healing.

friend, I have been learning that when I am willing to slow down, I see the humanity in my fellow drivers. Just last week, I saw a young lady crying behind the wheel, and I prayed for her pain. I saw a Mom struggling to drive while her little one was crying in the back seat just out of her reach, and I prayed for the Mom’s patience and focus. I also saw a young man walking across the street in obvious distress, and I prayed that whatever he was going through, he would see Jesus as the answer.

As I witnessed the burden of these people, I was reminded of the words of Solomon from Ecclesiastes 3:

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace. What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race.” (Ecclesiastes 3 NIV) 

friend, my prayer for you today is that God will use you to lift the burden of someone through practical help or a simple change of perspective. Could this be a season where we need to keep in step with Jesus and throw away our addiction to hurry? Could this be a season where we declare war on our distraction, and we embrace the peace that comes from helping lift the burden of someone else who is struggling? God can use you to be someone else’s miracle today!

I pray that each of us will slow down enough to see the people that God has placed around us. May we see their need and meet it, feel their pain and heal it, touch their hearts and believe that Jesus can use us to show them His grace and rest. Amen.

You are a miracle!