A Change of Perspective

We had a bumper crop of dandelions. My husband joked that if we killed them all, we wouldn’t have anything left of our lawn. During this time,  I was stuck gazing out my bedroom window at the lawn; I was in bed because I had a cancerous tumour.While I watched nature reclaim five years of hard work on our lawn, I wanted to cry. 

Then one day as I was looking out of the window, my four-year-old daughter, Gracie, nudged in beside me for a look. I heard her gasp. ‘Oh, Mummy!’ she said. ‘Look at all the beautiful yellow flowers! Can we go and pick some?’ ‘Wow!’ I thought. ‘No wonder Jesus loves little children.’ I had been so focused on the negative that I didn’t see the beauty. 

I realised that  I was only focusing on what I was missing out on because of my illness. Now I have begun to see that bed rest has given me more time for prayer and reading God’s word than I’ve ever had before. 

How many times have I dismissed situations – or people – based on my negative perception of them? We tend to see only what we look for. Psalm 19:1 says, ‘The heavens declare the glory of God.’ If I’m not seeing God’s glory in all things, I need a change of perspective. Gracie made me determined to stop, no matter what circumstances surround me, no matter how things or        people appear, and find the glory in all of God’s creation.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, help us to see in nature your glory and constant presence. Amen