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"For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways." (Isaiah 55:8 NIV)
My granddaughters were off school which meant that they were in my care. As I had much to do, I asked them to find something to do quietly while I finished my chores.
As I went about cleaning and vacuuming, I was pleased to see that they were working together at the kitchen table. It wasn't until I wandered back into the kitchen however that I realized what they had been doing. They had gone downstairs to their craft room and come back up with the box that housed their glue and glitter. Glitter which was now everywhere. Glitter drives me to distraction as it hangs around for days and weeks. Every time I think I have finally vacuumed up the last of it, a beam of light reveals more sparkling glitter.
The girls have been told numerous times that they are not to use the glitter when they are unsupervised. Four and six year old girls especially, have this penchant for disregarding this instruction when it comes to glitter. I was therefore feeling quite cross with them, even though I didn't want to be cross with them. At the time all I could see was glitter, glitter, everywhere and the clean-up that would be required. Both girls were sent to their rooms to consider their behaviour.
In the meantime, as I went about trying to clean up the mess, I also went about praying and asking God how to best deal with things. As I was working around and praying, God gave me a new perspective on the situation. He reminded me that though the glitter would definitely be displaying itself here there and everywhere, for quite some time to come, that if every time I saw it twinkling away, I thought about all the glittering fun and joy the girls have brought into my life, that I could view this predicament in a positive, rather than a negative light. Of course, He was right. I just needed to stop looking at the situation through my flawed human sight and begin seeing it through the perfection of His.
This story of the girls and the glitter is just an extremely small blip in regards to many of the things that can go awry in our lives. The lesson of learning to see things through God's eyes rather than through our own however, is one that is able to serve us well in whatever situation we may be experiencing. For the perfection and glitter of God's perspective instead of our own has the power to change a negative into a positive.
Prayer: Father thank You that You see things perfectly and that when we are open to Your Spirit, You are able to give us a glimpse of that perfection as well. In Christ's name we thank You. Amen.
Lynne Phipps
Tawatinaw, Alberta, Canada
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