Soaking up Perspective

When I look at something I've seen many times and see it differently, I tend to think I'm seeing that "something" in a new perspective, a new light, if you will. I had not given this much thought until my four year old brought me a new perspective. 

While driving the other night we drove past a McDonald's. My four year old and I have this conversation:

Nick:  "Hey, Mommy! Look! It's a McDonald's!". 
Me:    "Yep, sure is buddy." 


There is a pause while he's in deep thought. Know how sometimes you can just hear them thinking?


Nick: "That's so 'mazin'!"  ("it's amazing", for those that don't speak Munchkin fluently).


Nick: "That's just so cool!"


My response here was to laugh. I've thought a lot of things concerning that certain restaurant over my lifetime, but amazing was honestly never on my list of adjectives to use. It didn't take much brain power to see from his perspective why that place is just so amazing to him. Here's where I have to throw in that he was deathly afraid of parks and jungle gyms when he came to live with us 10 months ago. Our family has taught him a new phrase; "Have fun!". While learning what fun is, I have to admit that certain indoor playgrounds have been used in our lessons on how to just be a little kid and have fun. 


My thoughts then turned to my surprise at his use of the word 'amazing'. I was shocked he knew it! When he moved in with us 10 months ago he was stringing together 2 and three words but he was mostly incomprehensible and used baby jargon along with 3-alarm screaming fits to make himself understood. So then I was thinking about how he'd have heard the word and it hit me straight on. A week earlier when the weather had been simply beautiful we had all gone outside to play in the backyard. Lia and I started pulling grass out from in between the stone on the pathway. Just so you know, yes we were actually having fun doing that. We raced each other and pulled harder and laughed. Nick noticed the fun we were having (I'm not kidding here...) and wanted to join in. Can anyone say Tom Sawyer here? Who needs a white washed fence when grass pulling will serve the same duty? Sometimes I feel so smart. I'm really not. This was a total accident, but I'll take credit just the same, ok?


I eventually started pulling less and less grass as I was still keeping an eye on my 2 two-year-olds too and so Lia took over as director of the grass pulling adventure. While she pulled, she showed Nick how to work effectively and encouraged the whole time! I was so blessed to hear her speak to him. "Good job, Nick!", "You are so good at this!", "What a great worker you are!", "I'm so glad you're helping me, you are amazing!"


Uh huh. Amazing. She told him he was good. She told him he was amazing. He in turn understood and soaked it all up and reused it. 


So here is where my thoughts went with this. Do our words that we choose to say and our thoughts we choose to think and the people we spend time with and their words said between us, does this soak into us and make up our perspective on everything and anything?


What am I hearing? What am I saying? What am I reading?

Psalm 126:2  Our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with songs of joy. Then it was said among the nations, “The LORD has done great things for them."

Amen to that!

Did you pray for Patience?

I was asked that question yesterday by a friend. My reaction was "Good heaven's, no!". I know how eagerly the Lord likes to answer that prayer and I wasn't jumping on that bandwagon. No siree. No thank you!

Fortunately for me, the Lord knows what I need even if I am unaware. Of course I could be aware but ignoring it but it's all the same thing and comes out in the wash 'cause the Lord deals with it all anyway, right? In this case I wasn't aware but was intrigued.

So, backing up a day. Yesterday the fully completed adoption packet full of paperwork that literally claimed some blood, was sitting in the proper courthouse awaiting the signature of a certain Judge. My Jacoby's adoption would have been complete, finished, and legally binding yesterday. Except for one thing. The Secretary. Ms. Secretary placed this packet of information and pleadings onto a work surface and not only did it get misplaced, but it was buried. Needless to say, the Judge never saw our paperwork and we will have to wait until next week since we have a shortage of judges and the few we do have, rotate counties and only work 1 to 2 days per county. 


I was angry. I was really angry. That surprised me and bothered me. That's not usually my first reaction to something. I did realize that the road to this adoption has cost 2 years of time and a large amount of heartache and plenty of prayer. By God's grace and mercy things have turned out well. We clung to 2 Chronicles 16:9a "For the eyes of the Lord range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to Him." We've desperately and graciously received that strength. The Word the Lord gave me directly was John 14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in Me." This, this promise has held me through.


So why so angry? We've been so patient. What is one more week? I think it was the immediate offense I perceived. I unknowingly took offense and thought the Secretary had clear misguided priorities. Sure, the court deals with lots of cases. Most are crimes people did or did not commit. Their lives and how they are lived are in the balance. But in my eyes, I could only see my life. My baby. My desire. My promise. It never occurred to me that what I perceived as blatant disregard for the joy and blessing of adoption, may have simply been an oversight by a very busy woman. Nothing more, nothing less. And to take the plank out of my own eye, how many times am I busy with something important and my child wants to show me a picture or a tent they built and I'm annoyed at the distraction? Or worse, tell them not now?


Romans 5:3 in the KJV says we glory in tribulation, knowing tribulation works patience in us. The NASB says we exult our tribulations knowing that they work perseverance in us. One definition of perseverance is "continuance in a state of grace to the end." Did I remain in a state of grace? Sure. Did I act like it? No.


Patience in Romans 5:3 uses the Greek word hupomone. It means endurance, constancy. Do you know what is written in black ink in my Strong's Concordance concerning the word hupomone? It says, "hupomone is the temper which does not easily succumb under suffering". Ouch. I certainly succumbed. It also says hupomone is opposed to cowardice or despondency. What?! Patience is the opposite of cowardice or despondency. When I looked up cowardice in the dictionary, it says cowardice is the lack of courage to face danger, difficulty, opposition, or pain. Despondency is to be downcast or disheartened, lacking hope and courage. 

I have never, never seen despondency as cowardice. I never put the two together. Doesn't Psalm 38:15 say "For I hope in You, O Lord; You will answer, O Lord my God."   And Psalm 71:14 says "But as for me, I will hope continually, And will praise you yet more and more." Continually. As in never stopping. Did I really stop hoping? Did I really turn coward and forgo patience? Yep, sure did. And I'm so sorry. Faithfulness is something I so desperately want to walk in and yet when something doesn't go the way I think it should.... 


Well, lesson learned. Today I walk in patience. Yesterday's cowardice was a  momentary glitch on my goal of faithfulness. Good thing grace covers that and that the Lord is a God of second chances.

On the bright side, I have one more week to plan our adoption party!