Taking a Step Back

Have you ever taken a painting or art class? when My husband and I were newly married, before we had kids, we took an Art class at the local community college, Painting class to be exact. I remember something that the instructor said that holds true as a good life skill as well as an "artist" skill, as we were painting our pictures he told us, don't forget to take a step back and look and your picture from a different perspective, make sure that it is going in the right direction, that you like what you see. It's true for painting a picture and it's also true for cultivating your life and experiences. Sometimes we are in the thick of it, we see what is right in front of our face and nothing else, wether its a huge problem we are trying to figure out or something that another careless person has dumped in our laps, whatever it is, sometimes things we face have the ability to grab hold of us and drag us through the mud and into a downward spiral. I have experienced this and Im sure that you have as well, Taking a step back is not always easy, but once you do, you are able to see the "whole picture" at least more clearly, gain a different perspective on what you are facing, and see if things look "right" are they going in the right direction? ask yourself what is really happening, what do I need to change about me, what do I need to let go of and what area's of my life do I need to trust God to be God and surrender to him? This is when and where the battle of change and purging take place. It's been my experience that when we stop fighting so hard that we finally win.