Forced perspective is a popular photography technique which uses optical illusion to trick your mind into “seeing” something that really isn’t as it appears, and it’s very cool!

I’d like to tell you a story of two neighbors – you may even know them. Or be them!

Neighbor one is sheltering at home without much difficulty. She is getting her closets organized and baking muffins to leave on the doorsteps of friends, complete with handmade notes she finally has time to make with the calligraphy set she found when she cleaned the closet. Though a bit anxious about what the future may hold, she is feeling rested, has all her laundry done and is thinking of making wall art from reclaimed wood she found when cleaning out the backyard shed…

Neighbor two has set up her home office in a corner of the dining room because she needs to keep an eye on her two year old while setting out worksheets for her 7 year old’s classroom – which is also the dining room. She has a scheduled Zoom meeting in fifteen minutes, for which she will put on a Disney movie to occupy the kids, quickly exchange her pajama top for a blouse, do only the front of her hair and angle the camera lens at the only square of the house that doesn’t look like a tornado blew through. She is tired, overwhelmed, anxious and though ordinarily very organized and put together, feels like she’s failing at everything…

I love these women….both of them. I’ve BEEN both of them, and if you look closely they’re all around us.

Though I am in no way comparing myself to our second neighbor friend (I see you, friend!) I’ve definitely felt a little jealous of my first neighbor sister. For the past week I’ve been working furiously to get caught up on homework that I fell behind in during the first two weeks of transitioning from on site to online classes, while keeping up with current assignments to not fall further behind.

Yesterday when I started to see a glimmer of light at the end of the “get caught up” tunnel I realized I had a choice….I could either get my Philosophy of Marriage paper finished and turned in by the midnight deadline, or I could honor my daily commitment to work on the Day 29 blog post that should have been published on Day 29! It wasn’t an easy choice….I couldn’t do them both, and I do not take defeat easily! And I made sure God knew that he had basically given me two commitments that were often clashing with one another and how I didn’t think that was really fair….

Why is it that so often the things we need to learn come at the end of ourselves – when we get overwhelmed and frustrated and run to God for rescue? (Or is it just me?)

I’m almost embarassed to admit the stubborn tenacity with which I approach some things – like posting a daily blog – daily – but last night when I had to make a choice between two commitments, I realized how without even realizing it I had attached a sense of faithfulness to a set of circumstances that I really can’t control in this albeit temporary but also very real pandemic world. And I realized how easy it is to only see the world (and our neighbors) through our own perspective.

So I learned an important lesson….seeing things in new ways, from different perspectives, (even if sometimes they seem forced!) are so much of what the season of Lent is about. What I learned the last couple of days is that the expectations we place on ourselves as Christians are so often wrapped up in our sense of expectations from God…..and they just never are. What Jesus did on the cross? It set us free….he took the self-condemnation, the self-doubt, the self-hatred, self-consciousness…..all the “selfs” that should have belonged to us, and he defeated them soundly so it wouldn’t be our fight to fight any longer.

Thank you for that, Jesus. And thank you for grace that wraps itself around my lingering doubts and insecurities, reminding me that you did the hard work….and I get the honor of living into my freedom each and every day. I love you!

And I also love YOU, my forgiving, loyal tribe of Lent-travellers. You enrich my life in ways you will never know and I am deeply grateful!

Love,

Shellie ♥

You Say

Lauren Daigle

I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not enough
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low?
Remind me once again just who I am, because I need to know (ooh oh)
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
I believe
The only thing that matters now is everything You think of me
In You I find my worth, in You I find my identity, (ooh oh)
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
And You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
Oh, I believe
Taking all I have and now I’m laying it at Your feet
You have every failure God, and You’ll have every victory, (ooh oh)
You say I am loved when I can’t feel a thing
You say I am strong when I think I am weak
You say I am held when I am falling short
When I don’t belong, oh You say that I am Yours
And I believe (I), oh I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
I believe
Oh I believe (I), yes I believe (I)
What You say of me (I)
Oh I believe (oh)

Songwriters: Paul Mabury / Lauren Ashley Daigle / Jason Ingram
You Say lyrics © Capitol Christian Music Group