Perspective

The way you see things can drastically alter your opinions or feelings about things.  Take WWE wrestling for instance.  If you watch on TV, all of the hitting, punching, kicking, etc. looks to be legitimate.  However, if you were to see the same "wrestling" match in person from a different angle, you would probably see that much of what you think is happening on TV isn't really happening.  From one angle WWE wrestling may seem violent, rough and physical.  But, from another angle it just appears staged and fake.  I am not sure why I chose WWE wrestling as an example as there are several other perfectly adequate examples to illustrate my point, but I think you get the idea.

Life is the same way.  Our state of mind, mood and happiness are impacted by our perspective.  If we focus on what we don't have or what is currently bad or challenging in our lives, we will likely have a negative or poor state of mind.  However, if we focus on what we do have and what is going well in our lives, our mood will likely be much better.

As I was reading in Romans 8 today, I was encouraged by the shift in perspective that Paul provided.  Romans 8:18 says, "I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us."  We do experience hard things in life but when we compare those "sufferings" to the glory that we will experience for eternity with Jesus (if we have given our lives to Him) their is a huge difference in our favor.  There really is no comparison.

I have no intention of trying to minimize the hardships of life, they exist and they are real.  What I hope I am able to do, though, is show that with a shift in our perspective, we can be reminded of the hope and glory that awaits us.