Zoom out

Just stop for a minute and push pause. I know that it probably seems as though that's impossible but you can do it. Push pause for just a minute, even for the next thirty seconds, on the tsunami that is your life. It's different for everyone but...

Maybe for you it's the grief you've been crawling through.
Maybe it's your crazy kids...you love them but they're being crazy. 
Maybe for you it's the relational battle that seems like a no win situation.
Maybe it's the struggle of mastering your own personal habits.  

While it's different for everyone what we all share in common is our tendency to zoom in on our struggles with laser focus. It's understandable because we're living it everyday. We're the ones experiencing the daily struggle of ups and downs, (why does it always feel like there are more downs than ups?), anxiety, stress, hopelessness. In those daily moments it's really easy to get discouraged and start to feel like we're not making any progress and the light at the end of the tunnel seems so dim. This is where the big "pause button" comes into play. 

Push it now. 

Take a moment and just zoom out. Zoom out and try to get a bigger swath of your life in the frame. What I think you'll discover is that you've likely made some significant progress. While at times your grief still feels debilitating, you have made strides. If it hasn't happened just yet, there will come a time when the good days outnumber the bad ones. When you push pause and zoom out you realize that your kids are indeed growing up and slowly but surely they are making progress. They still don't have their homework done, but they are making progress. When you zoom out just a touch you realize that while the relational battles you've been fighting may not be entirely resolved, God is slowly but surely supplying you with a peace in the midst of it. Zoom out just a touch further and you recognize that you've made tremendous progress with those habits you've so desperately tried to master. You're far from perfect but you're also far from where you used to be. 

It's easy to get discouraged when we zoom in too much. It's easy to lose heart when we trust in our own abilities. But here's the good news: Paul from the Bible says it like this in Philippians 1:6 (ESV), "And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ." 

It's not about what we can do on our own. It's about what God can do through us. It's about trusting Him in the midst of the process. It's about our belief that He will bless our efforts as we stay consistent and faithful to His leading in our lives. We can't always stay zoomed out. At some point we have to zoom in and trudge our way through the trenches of life but everyone once in a while, perhaps even weekly or monthly, you need to zoom out and give thanks to God for how far He's allowed you to progress. Be encouraged and keep moving forward.

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