Open Dog Door

Anyone else have a dog? We do! This particular fluffy four legged adventurer loves the outdoors, country life, and running free. And she also loves her kennel! One afternoon Lewis and I were out back behind the house, in plain view of her dog kennel. I made mention, something along the lines of, "Hey I thought you said you let Bella out?"

He said "I did. Look. See... her door is wide open?"

"Um? No- it's totally closed."

How could he be so blind? It's obviously closed. Maybe he's talking about something else. Maybe he didn't understand me. 

"Lewis, the gate is totally closed. I don't think we are looking at the same thing."

This conversation all took place as we were walking closer to the kennel. And that's when it hit me. Uh oh. The door was wide open. What?! How? No way- it was totally closed when I looked at it from right back there. Because of the angle I was at in comparison to the kennel, my eyes told me the door was shut. Because of that alignment I was totally wrong. My perspective was off.

And then He spoke.

Sometimes that's us with life.

Sometimes we are only looking at something from one angle. And sometimes with one angle, like Lewis' one angle in this case, we get it right. But sometimes we are off. Sometimes we are adamant we are right- just like I was sure I saw what I saw- maybe even a little stubborn about it. Sometimes we do this with God. Maybe we don't even know it. Maybe there are things in life, in our beliefs, in our relationships, things with God, that we are SO sure of convincing us we are right. When in fact- we are really the ones who could stand to stand with a different alignment in connection to the thing, giving us a secondary, or even tertiary angle, to see it from another perspective. Seeking multiple perspectives is seeking wisdom. Maybe after seeing it from multiple angles what we've been seeing all along is in fact still true. But what if, after approaching something from other, different, multiple angles, the thing is a little bit, or a whole lot, different than what we thought we saw? Are you willing to take the steps to find out? Are you willing to step this way and that way to test it? Stubbornness, just because we see it one way, doesn't always prove true. Just ask me with this open dog door! What things in your life could use a different angle? 

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Words for Digging Deeper

"'For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,' declares the Lord. 'As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." Isaiah 55:8-9 NIV

"Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things." Colossians 3:2 NIV