Day 30 - Perspective

Is it really November 30th already??? Where has the time gone?

To sum up what I am thankful for this month I think one word will suffice....perspective. We have been in China for almost 21 months and during this time my perspective on absolutely everything has changed. In our ladies study this has been our topic over the last few weeks and it has really made me think. Am I looking at my life through my perspective, or am I seeking to view life through God's perspective? This is totally not an easy venture but I am daily working to look for the good in things and remembering that God has a plan for everything in my life. He is sovereign...I am not.

There are many things in China that are too easy to view through my "perspective" and not try to understand the culture here and embrace the difference. Too often I find myself wondering why people here are not doing things the way I would do them. Kinda dumb right? Ha! From the lady screaming in my face to another worker in the veggie mart to ask for change and not realizing this was upsetting all of us, to the kids on the playground in split pants and praying that as they go down the slide nothing is left behind. I can choose to cringe and get upset (though I have to confess there are definitely times I do this) or I can choose to realize that we are different and we do things differently and in the grand scheme of God's plan for me this is not going to make a vital difference.

One situation like this that I do have to laugh at is the Chinese grandma's who get upset at me that I let Aiden feed himself. Yes...he is almost 2, but I'm not supposed to let him feed himself.....this is something I definitely do not understand. We were at Stuff Mart yesterday and while there on at least 3 different occasions a grandma would come up and try to take the apple slice or cracker that Aiden was having as a snack out of his mouth and proceed to tell me that this shouldn't be happening. Talk about having to count to 10 before you answer...ha! I was not a happy camper over this, but then I had to remember that we are different. My perspective is vastly different from theirs on this, but I can't change the situation. So I must let it go.

I'm thankful that God has brought us here to China to teach me this lesson. This probably would not have been as big of a deal in the states so I wouldn't have the opportunity to grow in this way. God's thoughts and ways are so much higher and better than mine. If I trust in this fact and seek to have the mind of Christ, then my perspective will be His perspective and then I will view the people around me as He does. This is my goal.

So today, as much as situations sometimes drive me crazy, I'm thankful to have the chance to change my perspective.

Bring on December!!!!