This is what happens when you pull up the weather app and view today’s forecast but fail to scroll down further to see the details in the hourly forecast. I found out today that 90% rain can mean sunny skies all day but rain in the evening...and result in looking pretty funny walking around in rain boots on a bright and sunny day.
I can’t help but connect the dots of this humorous moment to a life lesson. Perception changes everything. It has the power to alter life...most influentially, our choices. Believe me, had I known it was going to rain this EVENING, I would have left the rain boots home. A little extra information really goes a long way.
In thinking about this reality, I’m reminded of a sermon I heard recently highlighting the difference between a snapshot and a movie. When you take the time to see a story play out, you often get a better understanding of a single moment. And similarly, looking at a single moment is not equivalent to knowing the whole tale. The picture we now see will lead to another picture that will lead to another, that when put together will be something far different from a single moment’s story.
This mindset can be extremely helpful in learning the important skill of grace. It can be the reason we give people who might be having a bad day/week/month/year some slack as we remind ourselves the story of their life has not been so kind and today is not necessarily the full picture of how it will unfold. It can be what reminds us to forgive those who hurt us, as we’ve hurt people too. It might be a gentle nudge to lighten up on our kids when they err. Or it could be the connection we need to choose to let it go when a stranger acts selfishly. Maybe it’s stepping into our boss’ or leader’s shoes for a moment and realizing we wouldn’t want to be the one making the decisions that affect many. Or could it be that we ourselves need the grace most sometimes? This simple mindset might even help in situations like we are facing in our world currently. We can choose to remain calm as we remember our right now is not our forever. Whatever way makes sense to you one fact remains, we are all part of a bigger story that’s playing out in our lives, families, communities, country, and world and it’s helpful to remember to pause and take a birds eye view. Maybe from way up there we’ll see the problem really isn’t that big at all.
They say a picture is worth 1000 words so then that means a movie would be worth 1000 pictures (probably more).
Let’s keep that in mind as we live this life out day by day and give grace for the moments, situations, and people (including ourselves) that might need just a little extra in this season. And if you see a lady walking around in rain boots on a sunny day, remind yourself that if you zoom out on a google map I bet it’s raining somewhere nearby and she probably is dressed appropriately for that perspective.
