A Christmas Perspective

I've always been a bit hesitant with letting my children "help" with decorating the Christmas tree. While my method of decorating is like that of a Type A personality in that I want structure and perfection, my children's' method of decorating the tree is most like a throw-it-up-there-and-let's-see-where-it-lands method.

It wasn't until one morning when I noticed one of the glass balls had fallen on the floor and shattered into pieces. I grabbed a broom and dust pan, got on the floor, and commenced to cleaning up the shards, hoping to get every sliver. While on the floor, I found myself eye level with the bottom of the tree. What did I find but a plethora of Christmas balls hanging on the lower limbs of the tree, all in a row. From my height location, I had not seen where our youngest Lilly Faith had put many of her decorations.

Everyone's perspective is different. Our perspective on our life is often different than God's. Romans 11:33 says, "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!" The fundamental difference between someone who has faith in God and the unbeliever is revealed by the way they judge things. The unbeliever judges things by worldly standards, by his senses, and by time. The person learning to think like God brings God into everything, viewing things from His perspective, by His values. He seriously meditates on God's sovereignty over all things. Faith holds a person steady.

Because we often do not think like God, and because we do not have His perfect perspective, we often do not exactly know what God is doing. Only in hindsight do we understand what God is allowing in our life.

When I stood up from cleaning the floor, I took a step back to look at the tree once more. My perspective had changed. No longer was I on the floor staring at the imperfections of Lilly Faith's placement of ornaments, but I was seeing the beauty of the tree in all of its glittering glory. That's exactly the way God sees you. While you have some scattered parts of your life that can be chaotic, He sees your full potential and your purpose.

Instead of focusing on the areas of your life that aren't perfect, remember how God sees you--perfectly put together for a mission that He has created you for and only He can direct.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!