It was 36 degrees today. It felt like a whole new world. I walked more slowly, took deep breaths and closed my eyes while lifting my face towards the sun. You would have thought it was 60 degrees the way I was acting.

And then I thought back to every fall, when 50 degrees seems darn right chilly and I get all bundled up.

Or in my upstairs bedroom in my eighty-year-old house that doesn’t have a great venting system apparently.We have one of those scientific clocks that also tells us the room temperature.Probably not the best idea to have in a room that gets to 56.2 degrees on a regular basis during the winter months.Because 56.2 is freezing.It’s so cold, I shiver and my back tenses up and remains that way.

How can 36 feel like spring? And 50 feel like winter? And 56 feel like I live in an igloo without socks?

Perspective. It’s all about perspective.

What are you just coming off of?Something good?Then odds are if a bad thing comes around the bend, it just might feel worse than it really is.Just waded through a tough stretch?Whatever happens to you next is going to feel great, even if it’s just finding a dollar on the sidewalk.

But either way…good or bad…or somewhere in between…we can have a stabilizing force deep inside of us that grounds us and holds us steady.It can be 36 or 86.I can be in the middle of a circumstantial heaven or a situational hell.But as long as I’m living, as long as I’m drawing breath, as long as I’m reaching out for God, my perspective can remain the same.And that is this: I’m held…I’m known…I’m loved.

And that’s the only perspective that really matters.

Taking a few moments to sit quietly and focus your heart and mind on Jesus is one of the best things you can do for yourself spiritually, mentally, emotionally and even physically. Enjoy this free gift of guided meditations.

you're just moments away from calm!