SIMPLE things with an OUTSIDE PERSPECTIVE

Last night I was at a celebration potluck with a group of people.  As I was sitting there looking around the room and reflecting on dinner conversation I began to think about my perspective on things around me.  I don't know about you but I have never had the opportunity to visit a foreign country.  Last night there was a family from Iran and this is there first time in the US.  There was also a college student from Sweden.

At the dinner table I was at, I was listening to the student from Sweden talk about a few things he has missed.  He misses most the cheese and bread from his home.  He mentioned something about the bread here in the US not being as thick or heavy and filling as he is use to enjoying.  I wonder about the cheeses.  I like cheese and wonder what the cheese is like from his home.

Later we formed a circle around the room to get ready to do a gift exchange.  We sang some Christmas songs first.  Then listened to the instructions for the gift exchange.  A young man (also a student, he's from Iran but has been living in Flagstaff for a while) had a Christmas decorated napkin folded in a square in his hand. He commented to the hostess about i being too pretty to just throw away.  She smiled and laughed and told him that there were plenty more where that one came from.

I observed the family across from me that was from Iran visiting the US for the very first time. (the young man's uncle) The young man's dad translated to the family as the host read the Christmas Story out loud.  I wondered what they could be thinking.  I wondered as they looked around them and heard the sounds they heard as they went around town and took in all they could what their perspective would be and what thoughts would they take back with them when they returned home.

Each of those moments had me thinking about how simple things can be and how much joy can come out of any little thing such as a pretty napkin, the type of cheese or bread we eat.  I think it would such a growing and humbling experience to travel to another country and miss what I was used to having around me and experience new things.  By doing so, I think that would give a new appreciation and joy to what I have been blessed with and do not look at as blessings at times.  I think at times we all get so used to what we have, all the little things from napkins, to the food we eat that we don't find the simple things joyful anymore.

I think its appropriate right now with the season of Christmas around us to ask God to help give us new eyes to look upon the things we are surrounded with.  To give us new ears to hear the sounds we get frustrated or tuned into all the time as a normal thing.  To refresh our senses so that we can enjoy, and appreciate the simple things with an outside perspective.

Dear God please refresh my senses so that I can appreciate and find joy again in all that you have blessed me with in my life.