Change Your Perspective

Repent and believe the good news!
     -Jesus, in Mark 1:15

I have this image of Jesus showing up to preach his first sermon and he's grinning ear to ear. He's laughing and smiling as he says "Repent!" He's not angry like those street corner preachers. He's not that angry god who hides behind the Temple curtain. He's delighted to tell this incredible news - that there's a wave of God's goodness rolling along and we are invited to ride it. 

The challenge is that so many of us are standing on the beach but not even looking at the ocean. We have out back to the wide blue sea, and instead we're looking at the dirt on the shore. Our heads are bowed over our iPhones (which, studies now show that we touch 2,617 times a day on average!). And Jesus shows up on the beach, trying to distract us from our distraction, to entice us to look out to sea at the wideness of God's mercy and goodness.

Are you up for changing your perspective today? ("Change your perspective" is another way to translate the Greek word for 'repent'). Would you be up for taking a walk around the block just to think about how good God is? Maybe you could just breathe in and out slowly, asking God to fill you again with his love and asking for the grace to trust that love today. 

Jesus is smiling as he invites you to repent!