The Empty Spots in Your Life

Leaves have already begun to swirl around. It is always so hard for me to believe when a new season comes along. It seems I hardly had a chance to really the enjoy last one.

This is becoming truer as I get older and as my children get older. Just this morning I was updating pictures in these cool picture frames my stepmother bought a few years ago.

They are the kind where you put in a small picture starting with kindergarten and they go all around the frame until you finally reach the middle, where the senior picture goes. I have finally completed a frame. I could hardly believe that I put in the last school picture for my oldest son, now a senior.

I glanced over at my daughter’s frame, the glaring reminder that she only has three empty spots left. So it was almost a relief to then look at my youngest son’s frame and count five empty spots.

There are two ways I can look at this. I can mourn the fact that there are no empty spots on my oldest son’s picture frame or the fact that there is only three left on my daughter’s. I can focus just on that, the emptiness I see. OR…I can instead look at what has filled those spots. I can look at what God has done.

When I take the time to really look at each picture that has been filled…kindergarten, 1st grade, 2nd grade, 3rd grade, and so on…I see God’s hand. So it challenges me to consider where I am going to put my focus.

Are you focusing so much on what appears to be emptiness in your life? Perhaps it is emptiness you feel inside or a loved one you are missing, a relationship that seems impossible to mend, the loss of a job, no money…whatever your “empty spot” is, decide that instead of focusing on that, you are going to put your focus on the spots in your life that God has filled. Sometimes it’s really all about perspective.

Now I can take a step back and not feel sad that my son’s picture frame is complete. I can feel thankful that God has blessed us so much with his life and I can instead; look forward to what God is going to do in the future.

Keep your eyes on what God has already completed, and not on the empty spots in your life!