I am continuing my blogs this week about the lessons I have learned or am learning this summer.

Summer Lesson #3 – “We constantly need to be thinking about our perspective in life”

I am not sure that statement is as clear as I might like, so here is what I mean. This past week I went fishing a couple of times. One time I went with my boys and we caught 9 halibut. We were 3 shy of a limit and most were not very big. Not a great day, or so I thought, until I talked to a friend of mine who went out all day and caught nothing. On another trip I caught two salmon, that is 4 shy of a limit. Not a great day, or so I thought, until in the parking lot I was talking with 3 guys who caught nothing. In each of those cases my original perspective was that I had failed in my overall goal, then after one conversation my perspective changed and I thought of myself as a huge success.

This simple truth can apply to the Christian life and to Church. I sometimes get down on myself because it takes me 18 months to get through the entire Bible. Then I have to change my perspective and remind myself that just a few years ago I was not getting through the entire Bible regularly at all. Sometimes in Church I feel like we are not growing very fast and I get discouraged. Then I need to remind myself that we have had two conversions this year and that is reason to celebrate.

Here is a simple challenge. Take whatever negative thoughts you are currently thinking and try looking at them from a different perspective. Try to flip that negative into a positive. Sometimes our perspective on life can be the difference between having joy and being heartbroken.