Power of Perspective For a long while I thought I had the worst life in the world. I spent the majority of my life after James died feeling bad for myself.
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It wasn’t until my car got stolen that I realized the power of perspective.
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It was 2:00 am and the officer asked me for a detailed account of what happened surrounding the events of my car being stolen right out from under my dance step.
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In a German/italian/brittish accent all mixed together I proceeded to tell him the story:
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I had stopped at my favorite swing dance club to grab a few twirls on my way home from a date. I threw my coat into a community pile of jackets not thinking much of it.
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I got twirled until the little girl inside me was sufficiently appeased. When I went to find my coat, it was gone. My heart sunk. My phone was in my pocket and that meant my phone was gone as well as my jacket.
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I tracked my phone with APple’s handy lil method with Find my iPhone. There it was beeping just a few blocks north. I asked a friend to drive me to my coat and phone because my keys were also in my jacket. Surely It must have been accidentally mistaken as the wrong jacket.
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When we walked outside to my friends vehicle I pointed to the parking stall next to his and in disbelief exclaimed, “That’s where I parked my car! They didn’t steal my phone, they STOLE MY CAR!”
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We hustled to where my phone was last seen blinking before the thieves turned it off. When we got there, my license plates were ripped from my car and thrown in the gutter.
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The officer looked at my confused why I would be speaking to him in such light hearted accents, all the while laughing and questioned why I was in such high spirits after finding out my entire life was stolen in one fell swoop. No access to money, transportation or the outside world with my phone.
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The answer was simple I replied, “You see, it is just a $13,000 piece of metal. Cars are replaceable, people are not.”
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Right then I discovered the importance of not sweating the small stuff, and honestly, most of the things in life we experience IS SMALL STUFF.
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Losing people you love? Not small.
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Few years later my husband and I went on a humanitarian trip with Hope Worldwide Utah to serve the refugees in Greece fleeing from Syria and Turkey due to the violence.
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Listening to their experiences of children being kidnapped and killed by the government, holding men hostage from their families, being smuggled across borders holding onto bars under a truck breathing in the exhaust for thirteen hours…that brought me a whole new level of perspective.
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The key to freedom from life circumstances is finding this perspective. Finding someone who perhaps has something harder going on in their life and focusing on them. Discovering that maybe, just maybe the life and the sucky circumstances you are facing might be a blessing in comparison to someone else’s life. Coming home from Greece lit a fire of gratitude that my trials are mine and it opened up my eyes how many of Gods children need love and the truest sense of joy comes from being the answer to someones prayer.
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Perspective brings us gratitude. People often say “Hindsight is 20/20.” What does that mean? It means that at some point in the future you will be able to look back at right now and find good things about what you are going through.
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I made it my practice to live in hindsight. I don’t want to wait for the future to show me how my current struggles are a blessing, I want to find the blessing in the struggle right now. When we perceive the blessing and benefit in the moment, it awakens gratitude for the experience of learning and growth.
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Upward and Onward. Look for others you can serve today and find how your life circumstances will be a blessing to you in a decade. It will make your today a lot easier to appreciate.
Xoxo
Love you all.
Michelle Ellsworth
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