Perspective is a Superpower

Keep It PG

It's been two weeks since I've published a blog.

Not because I had nothing to say.

Quite the opposite.

I've been living.

I've been transitioning from one place to another. 

Letting go of some things. Holding on to others. 

Learning new lessons. Revisiting old ones. 

Trusting God through all of it.

As I sit here today, I am grateful to be on this side of earth.

I realize God has been teaching me this simple, yet difficult lesson:

Keep it PG.

Pleasant and Grateful.

PG isn't a personality trait.

It's a framework.

A lens.

A choice. 

It's the system I use to navigate every other system.

Family systems.

School systems.

Business systems.

Church systems.

Social systems.

Even the internal systems of my own mind.

Life places us in countless systems we cannot control.

The only system we truly govern is ourselves.

So when I don't know what to do next, I return to PG.

Be Pleasant and Grateful.

Not because life is always pleasant.

Not because every circumstance inspires gratitude.

But because perspective matters.

Life Is a Movie

Life is like a movie.

We all have a version of the story we'd like to see.

We want people to say certain things.

We want them to stay.

We want them to choose us.

We want the timing to make sense.

We want the plot twists to be shorter and the happy endings to arrive sooner.

But the truth is, we don't control most of what happens in the movie.

We don't control the cast.

We don't control the weather.

We don't control the timing.

We don't control the scene.

We can only control ourselves.

We control what we see.

We control what we say.

We control how we respond.

And that response matters more than we realize.

The Tests Change Levels

God has been teaching me how to handle hell well.

Not avoid it.

Not deny it.

Not pretend it doesn't hurt.

Handle it well.

One thing I've noticed is that the tests never really stop.

They simply change levels.

And as we learn to trust Him, He trusts us with more.

More responsibility.

More opportunities.

More influence.

Sometimes even more adversity.

Looking back, I realize God was never trying to break me.

He was building capacity.

The same way a coach increases the weight when an athlete gets stronger, God often increases the challenge when He knows we've grown enough to carry it.

The greater the calling, the greater the preparation.

The greater the preparation, the greater the trust required.

The goal isn't to avoid the test.

The goal is to pass it well.

The Power of Perspective

One of the greatest gifts God gave humanity is perspective.

I define perspective as what you see and what you say.

Every person has one.

That's why siblings can grow up in the same house, with the same parents, in the same circumstances, and tell completely different stories about their childhood.

It's why one person sees a six while another sees a nine.

Both may be telling the truth according to where they stand.

Perspective doesn't always change the facts.

But it changes our experience of the facts.

In many ways, perspective is our human superpower.

We can live in a world full of wonder, possibility, gratitude, and growth.

Or we can live as mad men and mad women, racing the clock, convinced we're running out of time.

You decide.

I've also learned that most people are doing the best they can with the perspective they currently have.

Understanding someone's perspective doesn't mean agreeing with their choices.

It simply means understanding how they arrived there.

I also believe thoughts are like coins.

Every thought has two sides.

The mistake many of us make is believing we must choose one side or the other.

But life is rarely "or."

Life is often "and."

I can be disappointed that the rain ruined my plans and grateful for the opportunity to slow down.

I can grieve what I lost and appreciate what remains.

I can be nervous about tomorrow and thankful for today.

I can feel fear and still choose faith.

Both sides of the coin deserve exploration.

The challenge is that negativity comes naturally.

Our brains are wired to notice burdens before blessings.

Problems before possibilities.

Threats before opportunities.

Which means gratitude requires intention.

Perspective requires practice.

Peace requires work.

Pleasant and Grateful isn't about pretending the negative doesn't exist.

It's about refusing to let the negative be the only side of the coin you see.

Why I Choose PG

One lesson I keep learning is that the greatest war is rarely happening around us.

The war is within.

The battle between faith and fear.

Gratitude and bitterness.

Peace and panic.

Trust and control.

Every day we are deciding which side grows stronger.

Ephesians 6:12 reminds us that our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

The enemy would love for us to believe that people are the problem.

But often the real battle is how we choose to see those people and circumstances.

The enemy would love for us to become mad.

Not just angry.

Mad.

Consumed.

Distracted.

Controlled by our emotions.

Running from crisis to crisis.

Racing the clock.

Convinced there is never enough time, never enough money, never enough opportunity, and never enough hope.

But every time I choose to remain Pleasant and Grateful, I disrupt that cycle.

PG confuses the devil.

When chaos shows up and you remain pleasant, it confuses him.

When disappointment arrives and you remain grateful, it confuses him.

When life doesn't go according to plan and you still trust God, it confuses him.

Being Pleasant and Grateful doesn't mean pretending.

It doesn't mean suppressing emotions.

There are no good feelings and no bad feelings.

There are simply feelings.

And they belong to us.

The key is learning that feelings are information, not instructions.

I can feel something without becoming it.

One Life. One Today.

This season has reminded me of something simple.

We only get one life.

And none of us are promised tomorrow.

We have today.

This side of heaven.

This side of earth.

This breath.

This moment.

This opportunity.

So while I cannot control every scene in the movie, I can control how I show up in it.

I can choose my perspective.

I can choose my response.

I can choose to trust God with the script.

And I can choose to keep it PG.

Pleasant and Grateful.

We only get one life.

One today.

One opportunity to experience this chapter exactly as it is.

I've spent the last two weeks moving from one season into another.

Learning.

Releasing.

Trusting.

Growing.

And while I don't know exactly what God has next, I stand ready to receive it.

Grateful for where I've been.

Grateful for where I am.

Grateful for the journey.

Because peace is priceless.

Life is still unfolding.

The credits haven't rolled.

The story isn't over.

There are chapters I haven't lived yet, lessons I haven't learned yet, and blessings I haven't seen yet.

So I'll keep showing up.

I'll keep trusting God with the script.

I'll keep choosing my perspective.

And I'll keep it PG.

Because I have learned that the quality of the movie often depends less on the scene and more on the lens through which I view it.

And after all…. I believe it’s only right because… the kids are watching.