Perspective.

You know those moments that your perspective changes? It could be earth shattering, or so simple it seems insignificant. But perspective is an important measure, something we should hone in on. Like on a frigid winter morning when you think your house is as cold as an icebox, but then you come back in from outside where it really is as cold as an icebox and suddenly your house seems 30 degrees warmer- Oh wait, it is. And suddenly that meager sixty three degrees is comparable to a hot tub in summer, I might even consider shedding a layer. This seems silly, but this is what we do, except we seldom walk back in that house and are content with where we're at.

We live in a picture-perfect-instagram-filtering-world. Where we're conditioned to show people the best of us, and spend so much time trying to get the perfect picture, that we loose sight of the bigger picture. That's probably why I don't have many pictures on instagram, I feel like it has to be important, or exciting, or cool, or artsy. But what about the everyday? Don't most people have that, well, everyday? Sometimes Most of the time, life is going to look like my Friday night does tonight. I worked all day, came home, made a fire, washed a large pile of dishes, pulled everything out from under said sink because who knows what is leaking and has been sitting there for who know how long. Then there's cleaning it out, and drying it out. And that's my Friday. Pretty exciting, huh? And then I stop and can't wipe this sheepish grin off my face. Because this is the life I get to live. I'm here fixing things, eating ice cream by myself on a Friday night, and writing you-- and wondering why God(and my parents) trust me so much. This is life. And I get to live it. And it cracks me up.

We try to capture what we think will captivate onlookers, but forget to be captivated ourselves. His graces are new every morning, what if we take that literally? It's like an Easter egg hunt, we get to go search them out, and in return we get to keep them, and the reward, the treasure. Every single day God gives us Himself and puts blessing and grace in our lives. Something we don't deserve. But He takes delight in placing, maybe even hiding, His everyday graces in our lives. Maybe He likes just as much to watch us find them. But perspective can be the killer of this. Like a lawn mower finding them and tearing it apart, not that I would have any experience with that.

Some friends and I were joking about how "hard" life was when we were young, now realizing that life is a whole lot harder, a whole lot more confusing, a whole lot messier. And that's just it, life is messy, and it is rough, and it can be rather lame. But it's not just those things. Life is those things, but we get to choose to see the beauty of it too. We get to turn those everyday graces into amazing grace. Because this life of mine is pretty great. Perspective is everything. I love life, I'm excited for it! And have no reason and every reason to be. God's pretty great and I can choose to see His fingerprints in everything, there is beauty to be had everywhere. I get to sit at His feet and just be. I get to take in this moment for what it is, to live in the present, not waiting for that next big thing ahead, but just enjoying now.

A change in perspective. No filter needed.