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Time for a New Perspective
Empathy begins with understanding life from another person’s perspective. Nobody has an objective experience of reality. It’s all through our own individual prisms.
Sterling K. Brown
This morning, I decided to write while sitting at the “bar” (or counter) of the Starbucks where I usually write on Sunday mornings before church. I typically write while sitting at one of the tables against the wall. For some reason, it felt like it was a good day for a different perspective.
From my current vantage point, I watch three Starbucks team members behind the counter busily serving their customers. One young man is the barista. Another is emptying the trash, warming up pastries, and loading the refrigerator with milk. A young lady is at the register taking orders. They seem to be working well together to meet the expectations of their customers.
I’m thankful for the new perspective this morning.
A couple of weeks ago, we held a meeting in our office for our field specialists. They are the team members who make sure our products work correctly in the buildings where we are contracted to provide our products and services. During the meeting, one of the specialists indicated he wanted a chance to do my job for the day – kind of a reverse Undercover Boss scenario.
I’ve been mulling over this request for a few days. What would it look like to have someone shadow me for a day? How could I give them an appropriate perspective on my job without compromising my performance or the confidentiality that I must keep with some of the information that comes my way? What is a reasonable outcome of such an experiment? Would a “Boss for the Day” experiment be beneficial in the long-run?
Life is about perspective and how you look at something… ultimately, you have to zoom out.
Whitney Wolfe
Honestly, I had never thought of such an idea before I heard it two weeks ago. It’s a reminder to keep my eyes and ears open to the ideas, perspectives, and opportunities presented by others.
Are you a person of routine like me?
One of my Daily Stretch Affirmations is: I take time to try new things.
What new thing do you need to experience today? What action do you need to take to get out of your comfort zone? What step will you take today to get a new perspective?
What are you waiting for? Do it!
See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland. Isaiah 43:19
Changing Your Perspective #ShortTermMissions
“I just want people to take a step back, take a deep breath and actually look at something with a different perspective. But most people will never do that.”
Brian McKnight
When you always look at something from the same angle, you almost always see the same thing. When you look at something from a different vantage point, you see something different.
Going on a short-term mission trip gives you the opportunity to see things from a totally different angle. The different angle will cause a change in your perspective.
For many people, this idea can be quite terrifying. “I’m too scared to see life from a different angle.” “I might not like what I see.” “I might even be convicted to change things in the comfortable life I live everyday.”
For many other people, this idea can be downright unnecessary. “Why do I even need a different perspective. After all, my perspective is the correct perspective.”
Regardless of where you are in life – your age, your economic status, your employment condition, your health, whatever, you need the perspective provided by putting yourself in another person’s shoes.
One of the reasons I value my short-term mission trips is that I always come home with an adjusted perspective. For one, I have learned to appreciate the material blessings in my life, and I’ve learned to hang on to them much more loosely. This comes from seeing how many people live on so little. Secondly, I’ve learned that contentment in life can truly come without the hurried pace of life that seems to exist in many parts of the United States. The mission trips I have experienced have also taught me that I actually have more to give. Life is not just about me. It’s about giving; it’s about sharing; it’s about spreading God’s love through words and actions.
Since I’ve been home, I’ve found it easy to slip back into the rat race of life. One of the reasons I write so frequently about short-term missions and about my experiences in Guatemala is to make sure the perspective changes stick. I do not want the positive perspective changes that have come as a result of going on a short-term missions trip to be a short-term thing in my life.
A short-term missions trip can change your long-term perspective if you let it.
“Perhaps nothing helps us make the movement from our little selves to a larger world than remembering God in gratitude. Such a perspective puts God in view in all of life, not just in the moments we set aside for worship or spiritual disciplines. Not just in the moments when life seems easy.”
Henri Nouwen
How has your perspective changed as a result of serving someone? Share your thoughts in the comments.
6 Essentials for Finding Meaning in Your Life
What is the meaning of life? This is a question people have been asking themselves for ages.
Meaningless. Meaningless. Chasing after the wind.
“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.” Ecclesiastes 1:2
Too many of us go after things in life that really are meaningless. When we step back and look at it from a different perspective, we realize that we had our ladder leaned up against the wrong wall, and we’ve been climbing to the top only to realize that we were climbing against the wrong wall.
This week I received some tough news that reminded me that this life is fleeting – it’s short. And we will endure problems, trials, and illnesses, and we will eventually come to a realization that a lot of the things we are pursuing in life really don’t matter when it comes down to it.
I don’t know about you, but I want my life to mean something. I want to pursue things that matter. I don’t want to waste my time doing things that won’t add up to a hill of beans. I want to be intentional with how I live my life – on a day by day basis and on a moment by moment basis.
Our perspective changes as we go through life. We see things through different lenses along the way, and sometimes I think that we go through trials in life to re-calibrate us – to reset our vision. I think this might be happening through my experience this week – in the tough circumstances that I’m wrestling with in my own mind.
What are your priorities and what are you doing about them? Do you know them? Have you stopped long enough to pay attention – to really process the priorities that you have in your life?
Is it work? Is it achievement? Is it notoriety? Is it fame? Is it your family? Is it your faith? Is it financial freedom?
All these things are okay, but are they really your priorities? Have you stopped long enough to really analyze what matters most in life?
Once you know your priorities, it’s important to map out how you’re going to get there.
What are you going to do? How are you going to change your life to live in light of those priorities?
I cannot answer that question for you. This is a question you need to answer for yourself.
I just finished listening to a new book, Living Forward, by Michael Hyatt and Daniel Harkavy, and they challenge readers to consider writing their own eulogy.
What would you want people to stay at your funeral? If this is what you want people to say, how are you living your life to prepare for this?
I don’t know how everything is going to work out with the situation I’m facing, but I do know I have the opportunity to really analyze my priorities and shift some of my perspectives. And just maybe I will come down from the ladder that I was climbing on to make sure I have it positioned against the correct wall.
This is the challenge I leave you with today: Is your ladder leaning against the correct wall, or are you chasing things that are meaningless?
Live a life that matters.
Pursue your priorities. Carefully consider your priorities. Gain new perspective, and live your life with intention.
More importantly, what I’m learning through this experience is the importance of relationships. You can pursue all kinds of achievement and accolades and everything, but the reality is the relationships that you have with others matters so much more than those career positions and promotions, those super-large portfolios, and those trophies. Take time today to connect with those who matter most in your life. And then repeat every day for the rest of your life.
If you want to find meaning in your life:
6 Essentials for Finding Meaning in Your Life
- Look in the mirror.
- Determine your priorities.
- Live intentionally in light of your priorities.
- Plug into key relationships.
- Above all else, seek God first.
- Repeat for the rest of your life.
What is the meaning of your life? Knowing this, how are you living your life? Share your thoughts in the comments.