I took my son to his eye doctor the other day, in truth the eye doctor called because I almost missed his eye appointment. I made note of clock, 10:10 and being prone to symbols it made me wonder what else I might be missing.
John 10:10 reads “a thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy. I have come that they may have life and have it in abundance.”
I felt the Lord whisper that the thief is trying to steal perspective this season, trying to rob our lens of the graces God is giving us this holiday. If our perception of abundant living only comes in a nice package, I believe we are at risk. Perception is the ability to see, hear, or become aware of something through our senses. Often times when our senses are challenged or our comforts threatened, our view can become distorted… skewed.
So I started to reimagine everything this season holds as the abundance Jesus came to give. Not just the evidence of the sweet, but also the challenging. What if the struggles of this season is our abundant living, or at least the transportation to get us there. What if quiet or loneliness, hardship or pruning, small space living, last minute shopping, and all things in between are to be something of abundance. I’m convinced our lens will determine our interpretation of what Gods up to. If the Pharisees have taught us anything in the Bible, it’s that a religious mind can miss the gift of God that’s right in front of us.
God is a good giver. He’s been giving to us since His first spoke life to existence (Genesis) and He’ll keep doing it until we head to our eternal home. He’s got a way of changing the script, doing the unexpected, keeping mystery alive. He’s a God who places a baby King in a manger with peasant people, He entrusts His Kingdom to little children and broken people. It’s perspective.
Let’s do our best to keep our eyes open, ears attentive, wine glasses full (lol), as we ask for the needed grace to see the abundance in our lives.
Eyes open, DeAnn C