It’s All Good

We woke up this morning to a beautiful covering of fresh snow all over the ground. But I didn’t admire too long, off to clean off the car and shovel the driveway!   As I did the neighbor’s dog came out and started barking big time. He had probably never heard such sounds before as scraping of windshields and such as he is a puppy still. And Rudy and I have an understanding, he knows when he sees me there is a 75% likelihood he will get a treat ! (Not every time, I dont want him to be totally conditioned that the sight of me always equals a treat thus turning him into a total user !)   So I went over to pet him and talked to him a little bit and then told him to hang out there for a sec and I’d go get him a treat.  Though he’s still pretty young, he understands that part of the english language all too well. Yeah !

The preceding story has the idea of perspective all through it. See it yet?  I got up and saw snow and its beauty plus a chore to be done, Rudy, well he’s a dog, we can’t expect much from him so I guess we should give him a break, he saw a snack and by that time was likely totally oblivious to the white stuff !  What about you? What do you see in your day?  Probably you have your chores and responsibilities. And some of them, eh, not so fun. But if you look at things from God’s vantage point I bet you can see some pretty awesome things too.  One of the blessings of knowing God and having His Spirit within once you’re saved is the perspective He alone can give to you.   How, for instance, could Paul sit in a Roman prison (not cable or workout rooms available then as with today’s convicts) and pen the book of Philippians with such a flair for the positive? And especially so for being incarcerated for having done nothing wrong !  In a word, the theme of that book: JOY !

Paul prayed this for his Ephesian brethren (again, while in prison): “Wherefore I also, after I heard of your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints, cease not to make mention of you in my prayers; that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him: the eyes of your understanding being enlightened. . . ” (1:15-18). When adversity comes into our life we tend to so focus on it so that we abandon prayer (not for us, but others). But the Lord helped Paul despite his trials to still see the “silver lining”, because since God is God it is always there ! We must look for it.

Having a spiritual perspective about the day God unfolds for you doesn’t mean you don’t see the not so hot stuff (Paul could clearly see his chains) but it does mean you see more and you can still rejoice because there really is something good He’s doing through it all. Paul rejoiced hearing about the faith and love of his friends. He wasn’t going to make the choice to sit there and bellyache about his conditions, bad as they likely were !     This is a day that the Lord has made, rejoice and be glad in it, whether the treat comes or not, its really all good !!