On a recent trip away, we were able to visit a few islands. There was one island that neither my friend nor I had ever been, but my mother had already visited and because of what she had seen on her tour, she had no interest in returning. I think she would have been fine had she stayed on the ship. Her last visit had left her sad, and had haunted her for days after and she still remembers the emotions she felt many years ago.
As my friend and I had never been, we wanted to do a tour. For most of the other islands we’d visited on this trip, we had been content to just drive to the beach and spend a few hours there enjoying the water, but this island was different. While my friend and I negotiated the taxi, my mom sat, showing clear disinterest. She would do the tour, only because we were going. We got our driver and started driving. Within less than 20 minutes, my mother’s reaction started changing. Whereas her first driver had shown her the despair of the island and shared his anger and bitterness over what had happened to his island, this driver was eager to show us the beautiful coastline and highlights of the island. Because we were short on time, we told him that we didn’t need to stop at each place, but it would be sufficient to just drive by and point it out. He listened, and respected our wishes, but he also made a point to drive us to signs that were important to his home and different places that had unimaginable beauty. He was also very patient with us when we wanted to make random stops to get coconut water. Overall, this driver shared his love of his island and the beauty there, that completely transformed my mother’s once jaded view of the island, to the point of her wanting to return to spend more than a few hours.
What perspective do you need changed? Sometimes we may not see things as they are when we quickly look at them or are shown one perspective. Sometimes we need to look again. Sometimes we need to ask God to open our eyes to things that we cannot see with our physical eyes alone.
Dear Heavenly Father, we thank you that you see all things, and you are able to make all things new. Help us to look with a fresh perspective, help us to see with not just our physical eyes, but with spiritual eyes that can only come from you. Lord, guide us and guard us as we make decisions daily and that they will be for your glory.