A New Perspective

These last 24 hours have been spectacular for me, I have gained a totally new perspective on life.

Driving now is like riding through a masterpiece, reading is blissful, my children are even more beautiful, my husband is more amazing.

???? Why????

I have a new perspective with a new prescription, new glasses.

I have worn glasses before, but not when I should, and not as often as I should. I could kick myself in the rear end, that is if it were humanly possible, for me it is not! I chose not to listen to my doctors before and would only wear my glasses when it was convenient for me to do it, and that has caused a major problem... loss of sight.

I had been having headaches every day not even knowing it because I had lived with them for so long. The headaches I would recognize were the ones that were debilitating for me, when I couldn't open my eyes, light hurt them, and my eyes ached. I longed for new vision, for my eyes to function the way they were meant to function... all the while not knowing exactly what that was.

My eyes had adjusted to the way I had been seeing, even though it wasn't 20/20. To me things looked right, they looked the way they always have looked. I could still revel in the beauty of creation, I could still tell a beautiful flower from a weed, I could still decipher between navy blue and black, but there was something missing.

CLARITY

Seeing the world these last 24 hours has been like seeing the world for the first time, and it made me think long and hard.

I have heard from many people before that we become believers we are to put on the new self, that we are to now see things through the eyes of Christ.

I have believed that, but it never hit home with me until yesterday... truly hit home.

Before Christ, we can see things and notice the beauty that surrounds us, we can tell the difference between a flower and a weed. The difference is that the trees, the flowers, the garden that grows plump vegetables... it all seems somewhat flat, 1 dimensional. You continue through life thinking that this is ok, not knowing what lies beyond the horizon when there is life with Christ. You keep plugging along, until the headaches get worse and worse... your vision is seeming to get more and more clouded... now there is a haze that covers it all.

You want more, you want 20/20 vision... but you are scared. Scared of the unknown, scared of what new vision will bring. You've been so used to your world as you know it... flat, blurred, a bit hazy, you just wouldn't know what to do with anything different. This world is comfortable, you know your way around, even though sometimes you rely more on your hands than your vision.

This wanting, this longing keeps chipping away at you. You are now at a crossroads, right or left, vision or blindness, life or death. Which path to take? It seems obvious from the outside looking in, but to you this decision is so hard. You know it will be life altering either way, down each path there are uncertainties, it's time to choose.

I chose to see, I chose clarity, I chose life, I chose uncertainty.

MY choice... life altering!

Not an easy choice, because there is the fear of stumbling. My depth of perception that was off to the person that can see 20/20 was perfect for me... I was used to it. Now with these new lenses, my eyes are adjusting, having to regain a new perspective... things aren't as far away as they seem. With each passing moment, my eyes relax more and more... resting in what is now my new world. It is better, it is good.

I have moments when I take off the new perspective and walk in the flat, blurry, hazed vision again... but I am quick to place those new glasses on again. The world is so much great with them on than with them off. Only 24 hours ago I was without my new world, and wasn't longing for it... now 24 hours into it... and I don't want to take it off anymore.

When I am driving, the trees are now 3-D... their limbs are popping out at me as if to grab me and say "why did you wait so long to make this decision?". I see them now in fullness of life, in true beauty... the colors are no longer beautiful... they are magnificent. Red is now vivacious, Green is now LIFE, yellow now burst forth radiance... all that was unknown to me in this way before.

Yes, I may trip up here and there... but I wouldn't trade in my new perspective for my old world ever again. Now, when I trip and my glasses come off for a moment, I just reach out my hand to the hand the Lord has extended to me. His hand is extended with my new perspective in hand, "Christy, it's time to place these back on your head. Look at the world through my lenses, they are perfect for you. It's time for you to gain a new perspective again."

I gladly reach out for those glasses, a little shy, a little hesitant, wondering what others are going to say of me or think of me... but knowing deep down inside that it doesn't matter what others say of me. Yeah my eyes may look much bigger now, yeah my perspective is different from theirs now, but it only matters now that I can see 20/20.

Are you ready to trade in your old prescription for a new one?
I can promise you, it's well worth it!
A New Perspective...

2 Corinthians 5:16-17

"So from now on we regard no one from a worldly point of view. Though we once regarded Christ in this way, we do so no longer. Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!"

Ephesians 4:22-24

" You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness."