The Power of Perspective in Darkness
WEEK 9
The Power of Perspective in Darkness
If I am being honest, I really don’t know how to begin a topic with such importance as this. So I will start with some things I know to be true of myself:
I am someone who tends towards the negative by default, who fears the next step rather than surrendering to it.
Finding peace in the midst of high emotion is actually easier for me than finding peace when I feel nothing.
I am much more drained by the little discouragements that happen repeatedly than by large dramatic events that I can process and leave behind.
I plan for the worst first. I struggle to believe in miracles even though I’ve seen them time and time again.
I find it much easier to check out than to stay engaged, easier to walk away than to hold on.
I despise change even though it has only done good in my life.
I say all of this to explain that the concept I am here to tackle is something that hasn’t been a part of my character naturally. It is something I have had to wire into my brain, thoughts, and outlook. And something I never get completely right.
But this is something that is pertinent to you not only being alive, but living. And so I ask for your grace, as I am not living what I am going to say in the way that I’d like to be. But I believe that I have been called to say it anyway…
I think that so much of our lives are dictated by the perspective we have of our circumstances. You often cannot change the events that happen, the challenges that come your way. But you can choose the space from which you look at them.
It is as if we are all sitting in a theatre watching the performance that is our lives. We can choose to sit in the front, middle, back, sides, to go backstage, or to be a character on the stage.
There is a time and place for each of these spaces, but we often choose one space and become too comfortable to keep moving around. This is what creates a sort of tunnel vision on our outlook and is incredibly dangerous-
If you are always playing the main character, you will miss the nuances surrounding and supporting you and be unable to appreciate them. If you only play the supporting character, you will never be able to fully understand your own ideals which makes you a follower. If you never sit backstage, you won’t see all of the things outside of your immediate circle that indeed have an effect on your life and experiences. And if you don’t sit in the audience and switch spots often, you won’t be able to see the effect your life has on others in different places and perspectives than your own.
Your attitude towards life cannot mature unless you are aware, seeking advice, looking outside of yourself, knowing when to stick to your guns and knowing when to surrender. We cannot do this well unless we keep moving. And moving means change.
Sometimes, we find ourselves in dark spaces. We have fought and done everything right and still lost the battle. Sometimes we get slapped in the face by a boulder that we never saw coming. And my biggest advice to you in moments like these: Move.
Move to the front row, the middle, the nosebleeds. Take a walk backstage, go stand in the center and look out past the bright lights. Because if we don’t take many different angles on the events that effect our lives, we will navigate them poorly. We will end up being less productive, dragging them out longer, walking into things that will hurt us even more just because they offer temporary relief. We end up tangling the web even more instead of unraveling it.
So despite my natural tendencies, I practice gratitude.
I forget to sometimes, especially at first. I ignore it when I am bitter or confused or don’t have the energy to try anymore. But eventually, I move to a different space where it is a little easier to find it then where I started out initially. And my life has been greatly enriched by the wisdom that gratitude has instilled in my heart and soul.
You won’t want to move, you won’t want to seek the positives. And that is normal. We are all normal and that is okay. But my challenge to you in your dark seasons is to not just be normal, but to embody something that shoots you past your current circumstances and into a higher perspective that is only achieved by discipline. It means you won’t want to get up and get out of your bed, it means you won’t want to smile as you pass by strangers or take the high road in conflicts. But after allowing yourself the space to feel what you feel, exactly where you are, move. And seek out the bright spots hidden among you.
Till next Sunday,
Lexi Cummings 11/21/19
Photo Creds: Ines Lopez