A Different Perspective
by Malcolm Wood
Part of decorating the exterior of our house has been the painting of the wrought iron railings at the front of the house. The old flaking paint had to be removed and a special undercoat applied, before the new shiny black gloss paint could be put on.
The special undercoat, which was a bright red in colour, was applied to the intricately shaped ornate sections with much care and attention to avoid missing any part. Then followed the application of the final coat of black, which was to transform the railings back to something of their former glory. This all proved to be a very time consuming operation and so it was a great relief to eventually be able to stand back and admire the results of all the hard work.
All looked perfect, every part covered in gleaming black paint with no indication that any area had been missed. Then as I stepped back the sunlight fell on to the railings and to my astonishment things were not as perfect as I had thought. I was dismayed to discover that the sunlight was highlighting many tiny areas where the red undercoat was still showing through! Not the perfection I had thought! In my shadow everything looked perfect, but when sun was allowed to shine on to the work, the true situation could be seen.
We can be like that. We look at things, circumstances, other people and ourselves from our own perspective - and so often get the wrong impression. When we look at ourselves it’s easy to be convinced everything’s alright, but when viewed from God’s perspective things are far from being alright.
God wants us to bring everything into the light so that truth can be revealed, and with the help of the Holy Spirit the problem areas dealt with. When we allow Him to do that we’re more able to reflect His glory, which is, of course, what He wants, (‘My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the LORD’ ISAIAH 55:8).
Prayer: Dear Lord, I’m sorry for allowing my view of things to obscure the truth. Help me to see things from Your perspective, in the light of Your word, and please give me the courage to allow Your Spirit to identify and deal with the problem areas so I may become more like You. Amen.
Malcolm Wood and his wife Anna became part of the Ellel family as House Managers at Ellel Grange in 1990. Since then they have been involved with many aspects of the developing Ministry. From 2001 until 2015 they were Directors of Ellel Scotland where they hosted several International Schools and Operation Blairmore and helped pioneer the exciting Creative Inspiration Weeks. They have three sons.
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