One of my friends told me a story about the amount of time it had taken him one day to replace the hood of his car. He had another friend with him for hours trying to attach the hood with him, but they had no luck. The next day, with a fresh pair of eyes, he went back to the vehicle to try again. And that’s when he realized they had been trying to attach the hood backwards. Once they started attaching it the right way, it took 20 minutes.

I wonder how many times we try to push through something we don’t need to. But once we change our perspective, it makes sense. Sometimes we go through trials in life, but we don’t understand why until we are on the other side.

Sometimes, it’s all about perspectives. Are we wasting time going through something? Or maybe are we going through something to create a story so someone else doesn’t go through it? Maybe it’s a journey for personal growth, or maybe it’s for the benefit of someone else. When you’re approaching a battle or you’re in the middle of it, gaining or switching your perspective is challenging. But if you take the time to look at it differently, maybe the perspective will bring the reasoning into light.

In the gospel of John, after the resurrection, Peter had gone out fishing with a couple disciples. After fishing all night, Jesus called out to them to ask if they had caught any fish. Without knowing it was Jesus, they had replied they hadn’t, but had been fishing all night. Jesus then told them to drop their nets on the other side of the boat, and when they did, the net was overflowing. John was the first to call out that the man on the shore must be Jesus, and they all returned to Him. They had tried so many times on their own, fishing from the one side of the boat, but once they listened to the voice of Jesus and switched sides, they found the fish.

Sometimes, even after we have tried over and over, I wonder if we just looked at it differently, we could find peace in that alternative perspective. My challenge for you today, is to look at what you’re going through. Find a specific struggle or situation in your life you want to see purpose in. Pray about it and submit it to God’s will, and with that renewed spirit, look at your situation again for the eternal perspective.

“So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal.” – 2 Corinthians 4:18

“For in this hope we were saved. But hope that is seen is no hope at all. Who hopes for what he already has? But if we hope for what we do not yet have, we wait for it patiently.” -Romans 8:24-25