PERSPECTIVE

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything."

James 1:2-4

"You can only gain perspective from a distance"

 Not too far from the Great Smokey Mountains National Park, near Asheville NC is a short hike to Craggy Pinnacle.  From here you have a 360 degree view of the Smokey Mountains ...and like life, sometimes it's easier to see the "Big Picture" when you're not smack dab in the middle of it.

So here we are.... communities are opening up again, people are getting out and about while practicing a new way of life.   There's still so much we don't know about our future and what it will be like.  What will school be like for our kids next year, church services, work environments...  What will our vacations look like, our weddings, our funerals?

I feel like God has pushed the re-set button on humanity.  When my computer acts up, I just turn it off and reboot... kind of like what we've been doing these past few months...and now it's time to reboot.  Power on!!  

 In my lifetime I've watched us step farther away from the values we grew up with... families, patriotism, selflessness, prayer, giving back to our community, even talking with each other seems to have been replaced by texts.  Our focused has turned more inward and impersonal.  I don't think that's a good thing, and not what God intended.  We need family, need community, we need to be part of something bigger than ourselves. 

There's so much going forward that we don't know... but there's so much we DO know.  All things will work for good, to the Glory of God.  

This Thursday is the Day of Ascension.  Jesus spent 40 days on earth after his resurrection teaching his disciples, knowing it was up to them to spread the Good News.  The way of life for centuries had been turned upside down with the resurrection of Christ.   I hope and pray we're learning the lesson.  To value family, friends and our freedom.  We can each do our part, share this Good News and with each other make this "new normal" of our lives a credit to Him.