How to Maintain Perspective in the Middle

Wednesday Wanderings is a time we set aside to wander in the Presence of Jesus and ponder His truths. When you are ready, prepare your mind, body, and soul to have a transformational encounter with Jesus.

Watch the Wednesday Wanderings Welcome for this week.

Now that we have cleared our minds of the clutter, we can wander on the journey with Jesus.

PREPARATION: In our last Wandering with Dr. Sherri, we examined While You Wait to Return to Normal. This week we will investigate how keeping the end in mind helps you maintain perspective in the middle.  When you are ready, you may begin the dialogue with Jesus and state: “Jesus, I invite you to help me to leisurely wander into your Presence. Prepare my heart to receive, and illuminate my spiritual senses to encounter you.”

PROMISE: 2 Corinthians 5:6-10 ESV 

We await that day when we will be with the Lord with peace in our souls for Christ has tipped the scales in our favor. His righteousness has been imputed to us. We must work to please Him, not to satisfy the laws demands, but to demonstrate our hope  in Christ, even though we do not yet see Him.

I love how so many of the great hymns have this final upward look near their end. Spafford’s here is no exception to that. We are able to maintain our perspective amidst conflict and chaos, fear and even death, because our trust in how this all ends gives us hope. We will no longer be away from the Lord, but with Him forever.

PARABLE: Through COVID-19 and now the unrest caused by social injustice each of us has had the opportunity to come back to some compass that informs our perspective by helping us to see bigger truths in the middle of these troubles. It is easy to allow fear and anger to seep into our souls, but there is no place for the first, and the second must be held in an open hand before our God. How are you handling all this stress?

• Quiet yourself for a moment. Think of an empty chalkboard. For those of who who are more comfortable with a smart-board feel free to envision that instead, but make certain it is empty. Imagine it for a moment. Blank. Nothing there.
• Now, in your mind, think of these last few months and write on your blank board the first word or phrase that comes to mind.
• There is no right or wrong, just what is. Think about what is on your board. How have you been dealing with that? Honestly. Whether just in your thoughts or prayers, or if those have translated into words or actions, what have you done?

Each of us has been trying to find a plan to deal with these things, but the influences in our lives can either push us toward or away from God. In the next section, I want to take a few minutes to help you cultivate and maintain perspective here in the middle.

We have hopefully all started the journey with Jesus, and none of us reading this post have ended it. For the purpose of this exercise and your journey through the rest of this middle part between salvation and eternal rest we want to encourage you to think about how you are dealing with what you wrote on your chalkboard. There is a perspective, should we endeavor to keep it, that allows the journey to be marked with wellness of soul, even in the middle of life’s most challenging moments and seasons.

I hope you have begun your journey with Jesus. If you have not,  your spiritual journey may be a blank chalkboard.  If that is the case, you can resolve that today by asking Him to forgive you of your sins, accept His gift of eternal life, surrender control of your life to Him, and commit to follow wherever He leads.  Once you have settled that issue these next steps will be even more helpful to you.

PONDER and WANDER:  If you choose, Ponder the question: How is my eternal perspective impacting the way I deal with temporal challenges?

The soul training exercise HERE can assist you in deciding how to deal with our now in light of the your then.

Soul care training exercise: If you choose, complete the H.E.R.E. exercise.

• When you are ready, clear your mind and invite the Holy Spirit to help you grasp the Hope you have in Christ which is yours now in part, and will be yours one day in full. 
• Next,  Envision your current challenge in light of your eternal reality.  In the moment things can be so overwhelming, but if we can learn to develop some perspective they begin to shrink in magnitude.
• Then, Remember we are promised a much better future than any of us are currently experiencing and it is important to recall that routinely.
• Finally, Enlist the help of the Holy Spirit to keep this perspective until the day you finally see Jesus face-to-face.

PRAYER: Jesus, help me to broaden my perspective when things here in the middle seem to threaten to crush my soul. I know better, but sometimes I forget. Thank You for the promise of Your return and an eternity with you. In the eternal name of Jesus I pray, Amen. 

PRAISE: Now that you have emptied your mind of the clutter and wandered with Jesus, take a closing moment to breathe and let the work of your wandering fill you with strengh.

Then take the mindfulness of God’s presence cultivated in these last few minutes of wandering into the next ones and beyond.

Until next time, be Resonant.

The post How to Maintain Perspective in the Middle appeared first on Resonant 7.

_{Image Attributions:
Judgment Seat – https://pixabay.com/vectors/justice-silhouette-scales-law-147214/
Chalkboard – https://pixabay.com/vectors/blackboard-chalkboard-education-307799/}

BONUS REFLECTION: Over the next few weeks we will be pressing into this great hymn, but it makes a nice companion to our thoughts today as well.  Be resonant and hold to God’s unchanging hand.