Why Perspective is Important

So, the picture above was taken the night before Slick's 9th Birthday. My then 8 year old went to bed with all his normal bed time routines. Then about 45 minutes later we hear crying.......it is Slick. He is saying that he does not feel good.   We calm him down and put him back to bed (after taking his temp, after laughing, etc.).   He went to bed fine with attempt #2.  

Then I got to my computer and find the message above, "I am 8 for the last day :-(, Oct. 20, 2012, last day of even 1 digit numbers.  :-) bye 8." 

Ok, in all honesty, I responded to the notes as,"Really Kid".  Not to his face, he was back asleep.   But, it got me thinking.  Wow, perspective really does make a difference.  He went to bed mourning the the year of 8.  I would have gone to bed excited about the birthday of 9.  

The lives we lead are busy and full of things.   Some are good, some are not so good.  But, to focus on the negative leads us to negative every where.

What if my boy went to bed excited about being 9?   (Which is what we had just talked about, he just took a different perspective)

When I wrecked my car last year..guess what, I had a random stranger stop to help and my own Dad  was on the way.   So, I could focus on the wreck or I could focus on the good.  I choose the good.

This is just one example of perspective, but you get the point.

I hope for my kids they learn that life is what you choose it to be.  You can be sad about what has passed, or you can focus on the future.

So, Today, I will look that this week will be good, full of blessings, and moments that are not so great.  I will choose to focus on the blessings.  The good comes with the bad.   What is your focus?  I am working on my kiddos seeing the good and not the bad.     It makes life so much easier to live.

Ecclesiastes 3

Everything Has Its Time

3For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
² a time to be born, and a time to die;
a time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
³ a time to kill, and a time to heal;
a time to break down, and a time to build up;
⁴ a time to weep, and a time to laugh;
a time to mourn, and a time to dance;
⁵ a time to throw away stones, and a time to gather stones together;
a time to embrace, and a time to refrain from embracing;
⁶ a time to seek, and a time to lose;
a time to keep, and a time to throw away;
⁷ a time to tear, and a time to sew;
a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
⁸ a time to love, and a time to hate;
a time for war, and a time for peace.

We are learning about Patience in the Elementary Small Groups.   Take some time and watch this video  http://vimeo.com/63841628 about how Patience and Perspective can be a positive influence in the lives of our families.