Perspective and Inspiration

A few years back, I signed up for a BYU class titled "Self-Concept". This class couldn't have come at a more perfect time. My husband had just left me, and I was left to wonder how to navigate being divorced, being a single mom, becoming a bread-winner, etc. One of the early chapters in the class was about perspective. It said, "How come when you are at a football game, half the stadium is cheering and half the stadium is booing?" Then it asked, "How come when it snows half the people are happy they can go skiing, but the other half are mad they have to drive in it?" It is all a matter of perspective. Then the course told this story, "A teenage boy is in the elevator. He has just had his foot operated on. It is bandaged up and he is standing there with crutches. A man comes into the elevator and promptly walks towards the boy and steps on his newly operated on foot." The question was then asked, "If you were the boy how would you feel?" The story continues, "The man was blind." Now all of the sudden, your perspective changes. Sometimes we don't have all the information, sometimes we need to see things differently.

This class changed the way I thought. I knew I could be bitter or mad at my husband leaving. I knew I could think my life was ruined and poor me. I knew I could go into a depression and stay in bed feeling sorry for myself and my kids, but I decided to change my perspective. And it has made all the difference.

Inspiration has played a part in my life when I have needed it most. Sometimes I have made decisions that others did not understand. But when I pray, and I get an answer, I have confidence to go forward no matter what someone else may think or say.



I can actually put my finger on a few times when I have received that sure knowledge that I was to do something in my life. Today sitting in church, I had another one of those moments. When that happens, I go to work. I believe that personal revelation is for a reason and I cannot doubt it.

I am thankful for these two things...one for the mind and one for the heart...but inter-locked so perfectly together.