A New Perspective

God has blessed me with a dishwasher.  I am thankful for my dishwasher.  My dishwasher washes my dishes for me so that I have more time to spend with the people in my life.  Yesterday, my dishwasher did more than wash my dishes.  My dishwasher taught me a life lesson that I would like to share with you today.  (Actually it was God that taught me the life lesson and He used the dishwasher to do it.)

After I put the dishes from our lunch in the dishwasher, I attempted to close the door.  I have found that the dishwasher works better and cleans the dishes better when the door is closed.  But, unbelievably, I could not get the door to close.  The bottom rack was stuck half way out of the dishwasher and it would not go in; no matter how hard I pushed, that bottom rack would not go in the dishwasher.  I pushed and pushed and pushed.  I looked under the rack and on top of the rack for the problem.  I must have looked at the bottom rack, pushing and pulling for at least 5 minutes, but I just could not figure out why the darn thing wouldn't close. 

Usually when I have a "mechanical" problem, I go straight to my husband who is a "mechanical" genius compared to me.  But this time, as I looked at that rack on that dishwasher, I just couldn't bring myself to say, "Honey, I can't get the dishwasher door closed."  That just didn't seem to me to be the thing to do.  Actually, the more I looked at the problem and the more I tried to shove that rack in, the more foolish I felt.  It was just unbelievable to me that I could not get the door to close!

Finally, I decided that I needed to step back, walk around the door that was laying open in front of me and go look on the other side to see if I could find the problem.  As soon as I stepped back and walked to the other side of the door, I saw the problem.  A knife had slipped down through the silverware tray and was stopping the rack from closing.  As soon as I saw that knife, God said to me, "You just needed a different perspective, Sherry."    By stepping around the door and looking on the other side, I had a new perspective and I found the problem.

At that point, God showed me that there are times in my life that I just, "need a different perspective."  When life is rough and I find myself struggling, God showed me that I sometimes just need to step back and look at life from His perspective and not mine.  My perspective on that dishwasher door was limited and frustrating, but when I stepped back, my perspective expanded and I saw a bigger picture that took me beyond my limitations and frustrations resulting in a solution to my problem. 

That's what God wants to do in my life; take me beyond my limitations and frustrations expanding my perspective, so that I see situations through His eyes and not my own.  In order to do that, I need to surreder my will to Him so that I am not limited by what I know, but I am limitless by what God knows. 

But how do I surrender my will to Him so that I can move beyond my perspective and experience his limitless perspective?  I believe the answer to that question can be found in Joshua 1:8 which says, "Do not let the book of the Law depart from your mouth; meditate on it day and night."  and then again in Psalm 119:15-16 which says, "I meditate on our precepts and consider your ways.  I delight in your decrees, I will not neglect your Word."  

God's perspective on life is found in His Word.  Meditating on it day and night can take us far beyond what we know and show us what God wants us to know.  I don't know about you, but I don't want to be limited by my knowledge; I want to experience life through God's knowledge and gain all the benefits and blessings that come along with it.

Encouraging You In Christ!

  All Praise, Honor and Glory to God!