Perspective

This morning I awoke to a terrible smell. The smell of smoke lingers throughout our home today as a result of a frightening oven incident that occured last night. What started out as a simple, "Let's have frozen pizzas for dinner" ended in an oven that somehow went into the self-cleaning function mode, resulting in a house filled with smoke and fire trucks at our home. Lots of drama over pizza! Although it was upsetting and costly, we are grateful that nobody was hurt. It could have been so much worse...
I saw a sign this week that says "The closer we are to God, the smaller everything else appears." That's persepctive. Perspective is what allows us to look at something like a house full of smoke and still be thankful. This morning when I got up and was greeted by an offensive smell, instead of allowing it to start my day off with a crabby attitude, perspective allows me to see it as a reminder that I have a lot to be thankful for. My family is safe. My home is still intact. And when I keep my eys on Jesus and follow close to Him, the things that can seems so big and overwhelming seem a whole lot smaller. I guess sometimes I need reminders...even stinky, dramatic reminders like ovens billowing clouds of yellow smoke...to remind me of this truth.