See all those colorful wildflowers? For months leading up to that morning, nothing but grass filled the entire field. Rain, ice, snow, and eventually the hot sun all came before the beautiful, color filled field of wildflowers. That field was always a garden; it simply wasn’t in season. According to my perspective, that field was a garden even before the flowers bloomed because I chose to see it that way. I chose to see that empty field as a garden because I knew or rather, I had faith that one day soon enough it would be.

Joy isn’t a feeling; joy is a state of being, a way of life. Joy isn’t about circumstances; it’s about perspective. We cannot control our circumstances; we can control our perspective. Just as we have the choice to see things through the perspective of faith, we may choose to see things through a perspective of joy. We can focus on the negative or we can focus on the positive. We can position ourselves in such a way that the bad things become smaller or less meaningful, and the good things become bigger and more meaningful. It’s all about our position, our perspective.

As I stood in the wildflower garden, I gazed across the field at all the little flowers. Actually, they weren’t all that little, but from my perspective, they were. I took a photo or two, and then decided to switch things up a bit. I lowered myself to the ground and took a photo looking up at the flowers which made them appear taller as if they were hovering over me. By changing my position, my perspective, I was able to make the small things appear bigger, and it created an amazing shot.

I want to challenge you today to question your perspective. What things might you be choosing to see as bigger or smaller than they should be? Sometimes it takes humbling yourself, lowering yourself to a whole new perspective to spark joy and see just how amazing life truly is. That’s just one of many things the wildflowers taught me.