Flip Your Perspective

Wednesday Wisdom: Flip Your Perspective.

It’s always interesting to notice what is intersecting in our lives–what conversations, what books, what occurrences. Our lives are our spiritual lives, and it is through them that God speaks to us.

During the month of July, I’ve been pondering the question of what is success. I know, like many of us, I hold certain attitudes and expectations for life, and yet, time and time again, they get knocked down.

Flip Your Perspective; Invite Yourself to See Things Differently

While I was in Hawaii recently, staying at a friend’s house, I fell madly in love with snorkeling. My husband and I just couldn’t get enough of it. Day after day, we’d eagerly set out to find different locations to immerse ourselves underwater. The Big Island of Hawaii is such a great place to snorkel, and it’s so accessible. With our masks and fins on, we’d jump into the ocean, and enter another world, one filled with the exotic shapes of coral, multitudes of bright fish, and constant swirling movement.

I have been grappling with some disappointing news, and being underwater was an invitation to flip my perspective. I was struck by the contrast of popping my head out of the water, and realizing how different everything looked from what I was seeing underwater. As I swam for hours, I began to sense God’s invitation to look more deeply at the beliefs and attitudes I was holding about myself and my life.

Do you need to flip your perspective on something? Is God inviting you to look at yourself or an attitude you hold in a completely new way?

 

Earlier this week, I attended a celebration for Brother David Steindl-Rast, hosted by the network for grateful living. One of the striking things that Brother David invited us to remember is that when we are gripped in fear, it’s just our little ego who has forgotten that we are part of the big blue beautiful ocean. He reminds us to fear not and trust life!

Take a deep breath and keep swimming.

Practice:

• Ask yourself if there is an attitude or perspective that you are being invited to flip, to look at in a new way;
• Ask God to give you the grace to see with new eyes;
• Practice Brother’s David motto: Fear not and trust life.