Raise Your View

There are seasons when our world can start to feel very small.

We become consumed with what's happening in our own lives.

• What do I want?

• What do I need?

• Why isn't this working out the way I hoped?

• What am I going to do?

Of course we think about these things. We're human. We experience life from inside our own lives.

But I've been wondering if sometimes we can become so focused on ourselves that we actually miss what’s meant for us.

“Raise your view”

A dear friend and mentor gave me those words during a season when I was particularly focused on a situation I didn't want to be in.

I was telling her why I didn't want to do it, how much energy it was going to require, and what I hoped would happen instead.

She listened and then said:

"You need to raise your view. What might God be doing in this situation through you?"

That question stopped me.

I had been so focused on what the situation was requiring from me that I hadn't considered what God might want to do through me.

Nothing about the situation changed.

But the way I saw it did.

Instead of thinking only about what I didn't want, I started wondering:

• What if something good could come from this?

• What if there is someone I'm supposed to meet, encourage, help, or learn from?

• What if something I have could be useful to someone else?

• What if this isn't simply something I have to get through, but something God can work through?

And strangely, the situation began to feel lighter.

Not because I suddenly wanted it.

Not because I knew how it would turn out.

But because it wasn't all about me anymore.

When I raised my view, my circumstances didn't change. My perspective did.

When Our View Gets Too Small

I believe deeply in self-awareness. Much of my life's work has centered around helping people better understand themselves and the world around them.

But understanding ourselves and being consumed with ourselves are two different things.

We can spend so much time thinking about what we want, what we need, how we feel, what we're not getting, and what we wish were different that eventually we stop noticing what else might be happening.

Sometimes we can become so aware of ourselves that we become unaware of ourselves.

• We miss the person in front of us.

• The opportunity hidden inside something we've labeled an obligation.

• The good that could come from something we didn't choose.

• The possibility that God might be doing something we simply cannot see yet.

Maybe sometimes what makes a situation feel so heavy isn't only what we're carrying.

It's believing the entire situation is about us.

What Else Could Be Happening Here?

Raising our view isn't pretending something difficult isn't difficult.

It isn't positive thinking or convincing ourselves that everything will work out exactly the way we want.

It's simply becoming willing to ask:

What else could be happening here?

That question creates room for something other than our first interpretation.

• Maybe there is someone we can help.

• Maybe there is something we can learn.

• Maybe an obligation holds an opportunity.

• Maybe something good can come from something we never would have chosen.

• Maybe God is working something out that we can't see from where we're standing.

This matters in leadership, too.

We can become so focused on what we need from people: the result, the deadline, the change, the performance, that we miss what might be happening in them.

Sometimes raising our view is simply becoming curious enough to consider what we might be missing.

What Might God Be Doing Through You?

I still think about my mentor's question.

What might God be doing in this situation through you?

It reminds me that my first interpretation of what's happening isn't necessarily the only one.

My needs still matter.

My hopes still matter.

My disappointments still matter.

But they aren't the only things that matter.

There may be more happening than I can see from where I'm standing.

So when I find myself getting consumed with what I want, what I don't want, or how something is affecting me, I'm learning to raise my view.

To look beyond myself.

To become curious.

To notice what I might be missing.

And to leave a little room for God to be doing something I can't see yet.

Sometimes the situation doesn't need to change for the weight of it to change.