resolve

Perspective is everything. One year, two years, three years ago - where was I? Waffling on the fence of some decision, most likely. Being intensely and unnecessarily self analytical. Worrying about something silly. Praying fervently about things that in the end, weren't actually that important....small fries, if you will. But one year, two years, three years ago - these very things I speak of were the things I couldn't see past. They stopped me in my tracks and forced me to either pray or dissect or discuss.

"If only I'd known then what I know now...If only I'd known."

I've heard this a fair number of times throughout the span of my life - usually from someone older and wiser, or just wiser. And I have to admit, I may have muttered this phrase under my own breath a time or two. It's tempting, isn't it? To regret the way we used to see the world. If only I had known. ...but you didn't know, and that Unknown is precisely what it took to get you here: to where you are now.

Perspective is everything. It is with us every step of the way; it determines the weight of our problems and the size of our accomplishments. It controls the volume knob on Truth, and lies. It carries us to our jobs, it rallies for our friends, it questions the ones who've hurt us. It is Perspective that tells you what you see in the mirror and what those numbers on the scale are for. Perspective tells us why we should get up in the morning. Perspective controls your hunger, your need for Jesus, your latest vice-dependency. And it is Perspective that will change when our minds do, when our hearts are softened, when we listen to our God.
 

What matters? A new year (a new decade!) is upon us. By now you've surely reflected over the last year, and the last ten. To follow this, you've likely decided what should change this time around: the job, the heart, those numbers on the scale. Resolutions: what must go, what should definitely stay. But as you nail those resolutions to your wall, consider this: they are based entirely on Perspective. Your perspective. This doesn't make them wrong, or even right; this doesn't make them unnecessary and it might not even change their worth. But it should remind you that like everything else, they are fallible. They will likely change when your mind does, when your heart does, and maybe even when you listen to what God says about you.