When I look at this picture I took on Saturday, I notice the pretty things. My handmade bench that I got for Christmas. The flowers I got for $1.29. The frame I made out of a picture that someone threw away… My favorite screen door… The little green pillow my Aunt Lucille made SOOO many years ago… Those things.
Do you know what I could notice?
How desperately my porch is flaking and how terribly it needs stripped and painted again.
How the same goes for my rocking chairs.
How the ceiling of my porch has never been painted and is incredibly dingy.
How the screen is ripped up in places on my door.
How our siding needs replaced SO bad, it chips and cracks easily because it is ancient.
It’s all part of my perspective. Those things are visible pretty much in the picture. The good and the bad. So which way should I choose to view?
There is a saying that I have to incorporate to my life quite often…
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
That includes changing your point of view when necessary. Look at the positives instead of the negatives. Look for the beautiful instead of the not-so-beautiful.
I think this is an important lesson for all of life. We go through seasons of not-so-beautiful-ness… Times get hard, relationships can become rocky, sickness comes… many things happen in the course of our lives, but if we learn to be thankful for the good, work on the things we can and change our perspective from the negatives to the positives, then I feel we have a much better chance of overcoming the hard times.
This may sound simplistic and small, but I really think it is a huge thing. We live in a world that if there is something wrong with it… just throw it away. Things are replaceable and we have taken that kind of outlook on much of life.
Fix. The. Broken.
Mend.
Heal.
I’m not saying it is easy or even possible… sometimes we may end up living with the broken, but we have made it work. Do you understand what I am trying to say?
Don’t give up.
Whether it be a friendship, a marriage, a home, a church, or whatever… work on mending, repairing, building up. Do what YOU can to fix the problem!
My home… it has MANY flaws, but you know what?
I love it.
My family loves it.
And we want to work at it to make it better for us.
It doesn’t cost you a dime to change your perspective.
Change it today and see just what beauty there is out there to behold!
“Blessed is the one who perseveres under trial; because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life, that God has promised to those who love Him.” James 1:12 NIV
