Perspective

This morning in my time with the Lord I was sitting on the ground in my kitchen praying.  I looked out of the window and could see part of the fountain in our courtyard, as well as some of the roses on one of our rose bushes. As I looked at the view, in front of my eyes, the Lord spoke the word perspective to me.  As I looked again, I asked the Lord to reveal to me what he was trying to show me.  He said Vicki most of what you believe and what you see is limited in breadth by your perspective. Imagine if I lived in the house my whole life and never walked out into the courtyard.  I would miss the vastness of the fountain and wouldn't see the hundreds of beautiful roses that are blooming.  I would only ever see a piece of a fountain and two roses. So much of my life I walk around focused on what I am doing - my perspective is focused around how what I see affects my life.  And so I see everything through this perspective.  When I walk into a store to buy gas I miss that the cashier has a broken arm, that I could pray for healing, because all I see her for is her job of ringing up my gas.  I walk into the doctor's office and I don't see the grief in the receptionist eyes and offer encouragement or prayer because I see someone who takes my co-pay so I can see the doctor.  The Word says in 1 Corinthians 2:9 that no eye has seen; no ear has heard; no mind has understood the plans he has for those that love Him. As I have been reflecting on that verse I wonder if the reason I do not see, hear,or understand is because I am not looking, I am not hearing, and I thus have no understanding about things that are around me everyday. We serve a God who came to bring freedom to those in bondage, sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, peace to the oppressed, joy to despair, and hope to the hopeless. How much would my life change if I began to see these needs and have compassion as Jesus did when he walked on the earth.  I believe it is TRUE when the Word says we will do greater things than Christ. If we want to see the Lord begin to move in power we are going to have to begin to see the world as He did. Lord give me a NEW perspecctive so that I can live with purpose, bringing hope and transformation to those I encounter in my life.