There he is again, she thought, as the car inched toward the intersection, awaiting their turn to move forward.  Every time she came through this intersection, it seemed to be the same person, standing in the median with a sign, looking for money.  It wasn’t a safe place to just stand, distracting drivers, and seemed such an inappropriate place to seek help.

  She felt that, more than most, she knew what it was like to have everything taken away, and the struggle to pick up and overcome things.  Hadn’t God brought her this far, by providing just what she needed to survive, not by just handing it to her, but helping her work hard to do it.  As the car inched forward toward the intersection, she suddenly had an epiphany.  It was as if God blew softly in her face, sort of like you do to a baby before they go under water.  Its like a soft reset before they go under so that they don’t take water into their lungs. 

She caught her breath, and when her eyes focused on the man again, she saw that God didn’t ask her to do anything but give out of a heart of love and obedience; no judging, no criticizing, no assumptions…just give if you have it.  That’s it!  Why did she feel that giving was connected to approval on her part. Was it her job to deem whether or not his circumstances were any more difficult or painful than hers. God did not say, “If your good with this, could you do me a favor”. He simply said, if you have it to give, and I ask you, is that enough.

She reached forward for her purse on the floor so fast that she nearly hit her forehead on the dash.  Grabbing what little was there, it would have to do…she thrust the money in her husband’s face in a rush, and said in a hurry, Quick!  Give this to that man!  When he looked at her in confusion, she said hurriedly, “Long story short, God told me to shut up and give!”  As they drove home, he just softly shook his head to himself, with a smile. 

Perspective can be good, bad, right, wrong, on point, way off base, but always changing and rewriteable, for me at least.   I know that I have the power to change one thing, my attitude…It makes everything look different.