African Violets and Perspectives

At work I have some plants on the counter of my workstation. Some big plant, an African Violet and a still hanging in there poinsettia. A co-worker and I noticed that the big plant has three blooms coming out on it. At the same time we noticed this, we were messing with the African Violet that is so healthy and lush and green, but has no blooms. He said that we need to have Mary come pinch it so as to hopefully force some blooms. Yesterday I said “Hey Mary, you should check out the blooms on the plant, (Mary is about 4’ 5”) and she came over and was so excited as she looked and said “Wow, it hasn’t bloomed in a long time!” I went over to her and saw that she was looking at the African Violet. I’ll be darned, straight ahead from her viewpoint, you could definitely see three purple flowers under all those green leaves, yet my other co-worker and I missed those because of our higher viewpoint and perspective.

Isn’t life just like that. Depending on how each of sees things from our own viewpoints, the outtake of the situation can be so different. That is why it is so important to be surrounded by those that love and care about us. You see, just like both of the plants were blooming, I only saw one of them and it took for Mary’s viewpoint for me to know that I am surrounded by floral explosion. (I wonder if it is because they like me?) If we go about in our lives alone, not seeking or hearing what others have to say about what we are experiencing, good or bad, maybe we might miss out on what is obvious to somebody else. Who knows, but I think it’s a good thing to have the perspective of others.

Today I ask you to join me in praising God for giving us people that care about and love us and for their perspectives into our lives. Just like a long idle African Violet, I pray that we all start blooming and that there are Mary’s in our lives with just the right viewpoint to point the new growths out to us, because maybe, just maybe, we might be missing what others can clearly see.