It's All In Our Perspective

Have you ever wondered why God allows us to go through some of the "stuff" we experience in life? It may be illness, a death, a job loss, a torn relationship - or as an old song once put it, "A time of trouble". We have all been there - probably many times. The problem is our perspective. As the created, we cannot see the same picture as the creator, nor should we. We want to see and know all the reasons but they are not ours to understand. There is one fact that remains though, if we are a true follower of Christ, and that is that God wants to take every situation that we experience in life and use it to make us more like Him.

I ran across this little story the other day that beautifully expresses the essence of this thought.

Malachi 3:3 says: "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver."
This verse puzzled some women in a Bible study and they wondered what this statement meant about the character and nature of God.
One of the women offered to find out the process of refining silver and get back to the group at their next Bible Study. That week, the woman called a silversmith and made an appointment to watch him at work. She didn't mention anything about the reason for her interest beyond her curiosity about the process of refining silver. As she watched the silversmith, he held a piece of silver over the fire and let it heat up. He explained that in refining silver, one needed to hold the silver in the middle of the fire where the flames were hottest as to burn away all the impurities.
The woman thought about God holding us in such a hot spot; then she thought again about the verse that says: "He sits as a refiner and purifier of silver." She asked the silversmith if it was true that he had to sit there in front of the fire the whole time the silver was being refined.
The man answered that yes, he not only had to sit there holding the silver, but he had to keep his eyes on the silver the entire time it was in the fire. If the silver was left a moment too long in the flames, it would be destroyed.
The woman was silent for a moment. Then she asked the silversmith, "How do you know when the silver is fully refined?" He smiled at her and answered, "Oh, that's easy -- when I see my image in it"

What is awesome is that, just like the silversmith must sit and watch the molten metal in the fire and never take his eyes off it, so God will never leave us in our time of sorrow and trouble. He watches us through it all. And how incredible is it to know that God will never put more on us than we can bear.
There is also one more truth here - that it is during these times of trials is when we grow to be more like Him the most.

Think about it the next time you begin to "feel the fire". It's not easy but seeing it all from God's perspective can sure change things for us on our end.

I sat in the little room, as I had done countless times before, and listened to family member after family member intone on the virtues of their loved one that lay there in the beautifully adorned wooden box in front of them.

The day was Saturday, September 31 and I had been asked to play the organ at a funeral service in Fort Worth. I have a "have voice/keyboard, will travel" type of relationship with a couple of funeral homes and when they have need of my services, they call. Such was the case here.

As I listened to these people extol the wonderful words upon their dearly-loved deceased, my thoughts went another direction than normal. Understand, that after having been involved with so many funerals over the years, a slight amount of detachment and dispassionment can set in. If each one were in a vacuum, the case could easily be made that the person they are putting in the ground was the best person that ever graced this planet. I have heard it all before.

However Saturday, the words struck me a little different. Of all the flowery words that are spoken at these sad times, how many of them were said to the person BEFORE they passed away? Why is it that we often wait until they are no longer around to hear them, that we speak them?

I was convicted - greatly. When was the last time I told someone how much I thought about them or how proud I was to have them as my friend, or how they made me laugh, or anything else that might be said of them... after they die?

The Next Right Thing for me is to pass out the flowers while they can still be heard, and appreciated by the very ones that mean the most to me. Will you join me?

In the Silence

Years ago a quirky little movie debuted named, "Short Circuit". The story line centered around an alien who lands here on earth from outer space. His appetite at learning about the things of the world around him became voracious. Everywhere he went he could be heard repeating, "Input, input". His quest for knowledge was never-ending.

I was thinking about this little alien this week and how that many of us are remarkably like him. Most of us wake in the morning to the annoying, obtrusive buzz of the alarm clock, grab the newspaper, wake up the one-eyed monster (that would be the TV, not your kid), fire up the computer, check the headlines, weather report, latest news on the entertainment scene and the stock market report. THEN, we rush to the car for the trek to work. The first thing we do is turn the radio on, and it stays that way until we get to the office, or wherever we all go. All day long our senses are screaming, "Input, input". Five o'clock rolls around and off we go in reverse order of how we started the day: radio, home to the computer, the TV, finish the newspaper, more TV, then off to bed - only to get up and do it all over all again, tomorrow.

What happened to the art of silence - that empty space where all we do is think? Why is it that we feel that every waking minute MUST be filled with something? How many times have we intentionally turned off all outer stimuli to simply have nothing coming into our ears and minds?

Here's a challenge: For one day this week, for however long it takes you to get to work, turn off the radio, mp3 player, whatever, and think - about God, your life, your kids, your future, a problem you might be facing, a plan for the day - anything. I find that it is in these on-purpose, proactive moments of silence that I sometimes get my best ideas and solutions to challenges. It's also a great way to spend time with Your Maker, in prayer - just don't close your eyes if you're driving.

You never know what hidden gems for life often lie in the simplicity of a few moments of silence. As Mikey, or somebody who used to be on TV used to say, "Try it, you'll like it".