The “I hate mice” perspective of life…

 

I. Hate. Mice.

My detestability started a few years ago when my family slept in a mouse infested cabin in the mountains.

No joke.

As we turned out the lights, we immediately heard feet scurrying and teeth chewing. One even ran across my foot in the bathroom.

(shudder)

All night long we could hear them.

Behind the headboard, across the room, by the door where we had stuffed socks in the gaps, hoping to block them from coming in.  It was like a horror movie.

Once my husband determined that the mice were probably more afraid of him than he was of them, he simply turned over and slept. Slept!!!

You see, his perspective was: we have a mouse problem, but it’s going to be alright. My perspective was: we have zombie mice that want to eat our eyeballs and give us Hantavirus!

Our perspective of life matters.

Sometimes, I think we have the binoculars turned the wrong way. You know, when you look through the big end, everything becomes small–zeroed in. But when we look through the proper lens, we can see way beyond what is right in front of us.

What does your perspective look like?

I’d like to offer a few thoughts about viewing life…differently. These are things I’ve learned and lived, and I pray they offer you a better outlook than my “I hate mice” perspective.

Go ahead and look at the tough stuff.

Look your trials square in the face and give yourself permission to see them for what they are.

This may seem counter-productive but until we admit the truth about our situation, we’re just going to deny it, fight it, and cry about it.

Maybe, just maybe, those tough things aren’t as tough as we’ve made them out to be. Or, they might be worse than we first thought. But either way, we will face them and be ready to move forward.

What is one thing you can do today to move past your current circumstances?

Now, look away from the hard stuff.

This is where we often get stuck. We are so fixated on what is wrong, we lose sight of what is right.

Once you’ve taken that honest look at your difficulties, give yourself permission to look away.

At the end of the day, mice are not my friends. That is a fact. But the way I deal with them doesn’t have to be the “kill-them-at-all-cost-and-I-won’t-sleep-till-I-do” method. Instead, I can view them with a healthy perspective that includes thanking God for those furry little creatures and calmly setting a mousetrap in the garage, laden with peanut butter.

I know. Life is hard. There are good days and there are very bad days.

What is your perspective on life? Is it all downhill from here?

Or, is there something better on the horizon?

Send me an email and let me know how it’s going. I may not have the answers, but I will be faithful to pray.

Hopefully, you’ll never find yourself in a mouse infested cabin where little feet scurry every time you turn on the lights and where constant nibbling makes you worry they are gnawing your four-year-old’s hand off.

But if you do, just know that they are probably more afraid of you than you are of them. At least that’s my sleeping husband’s perspective!

 Always an email away,

Jennifer