Perspective.
One of the greatest gifts God has given us is free will or freedom of choice. We have the opportunity to decide how we look at every situation and how we allow it to affect us. We have the choice of perspective.
Two weekends ago for our adventure day we went to a town in the mountains about an hour and a half away from our host home called the Valley of the Angels. There were 10 of us in a 5-passenger pick up truck. Ten of us. Picture the car tires. Flat. Five of us piled in the cab, shoulder-to-shoulder, bum-to-bum and five of us cuddled up in the bed of the truck, using one another as an anchor (because pot holes and curves…wow!). Y’all this is my kind of adventure…madness!
After a day spent in town shopping and holding conversations over coffee, we set out to pick up a few bags of oranges for our ministry host. Minutes from town, it started to rain. No worries, we all had either rain jackets or ponchos. After about two raindrops hit my hood it started to pour. It was the type of rain you normally see from a distance, with a roof over your head…dry. All we could do was laugh. We LOVED this. After many attempts to keep ourselves as dry as possible, we failed. At this point, we just laughed harder.
After a few wrong turns and puddles in the folds of our jackets, we arrived at our destination to pick up the oranges. Being vigilant, we were thinking maybe 8-10 bags about the size of a brown paper bag. Sounds reasonable, right? Just fit them in the bed of the truck, no worries. We could not have been more astonished when we saw about 20 bags of oranges the size of that XL bag of dog food you buy for your 10 dogs at home.
Y’all, this was the very moment I realized I was on this thing called the World Race. These are the situations you read about in others’ blogs and shed that empathic chuckle, thanking Jesus you are reading it from the comfort of your living room. Well there we were, thinking about how this is going to work. At this point, it’s still raining, we are all soaked and my dress is becoming see-through (classic).
As wet bags of oranges were being handed to me in the bed of the truck, I couldn’t help but think of how I would not want to be anywhere else with anyone else. Sure, this situation was definitely not ideal and I’m almost certain prayer was the only way we made it 15,000 feet down that mountain; yet, there was so much joy, so much laughter and so many life-giving conversations that happened in the bed of that truck.
It was not only the situation that made that experience unforgettable, but the people.
Somehow we managed to fit every single one of those bags of oranges into the truck along with about 8 bushels of bananas. We think we had about 500-600 pounds of fruit. Imagine the truck tires now…even flatter. It eventually stopped raining and we were able to stand in the bed of the truck. We shouted, sang, and came up with some really corny, hilarious puns. Orange you jealous?
A perspective shift can turn a negative experience into a positive experience.
How can you choose to have a different perspective today?
Kel xx
