Point Power 

by Terri McPherson   
(from Footsteps April 2005)

The mountains you will climb, over the course of your lifetime, will offer many different views of the days and months and years behind you. Each lookout point will coincide with the emotion, the attitude and the wisdom you bring to the view.

Point Regret will show you all the 'could haves' and 'should haves' that dot the landscape of your life. Every place you could have acted on an opportunity, and didn't, will rise up above the accomplishments you achieved. Every place you should have done or said something, and didn't, or should have kept quiet, and didn't, or shouldn't have done something, and did, will tower over the times you spoke or acted in the absolute right manner.

Point Bitterness will highlight every instance you felt you were wronged by another person. Those people will vividly stand out and shadow the people who have always done right by you. Broken dreams and out-of-reach goals will easily hide the many blessings you are given on a daily basis. You won't see those whose goals and dreams are to have a home to live in, a bed to sleep in and food to eat. The view of what you don't have will obliterate them from your site.

Point Desperation will look out over the tangled forests you tried to make your way through and got lost. It will show all the roadblocks and dead ends you encountered while trying your very best to succeed. Every place you fell will be marked and made clear. The view won't show you the miles that counted, the character building miles of trying and trying again, never compromising your principles for short term gain. The scenery won't show the places you got up, dusty and battered and worn, when staying down would have been easier. It won't disclose the places you accepted the Lord's ever present help and simply stood in place, grateful for the opportunity to take another breath and not be defeated.

Point Sorrow will reveal a vista that pulls you down onto your knees with grief. Markers of loss will line fields of sadness. The view from Point Sorrow shackles you to the moment of loss - the moment when everything hurts, even the happiest of memories. The life of a loved one lost is defined by the pain of their leaving, not the joy they brought to the world or any purpose they strived to achieve. The value of the life they lived, their worth as a cherished, loving human being, is buried beneath a marker of loss, never allowed to lift your spirits or lighten your heart in remembrance of the precious time they spent on earth.

Point Fear will show you all the detours you took to avoid standing up for yourself or for another. It will cover up the times you knew with all your heart and soul that you were a child of the living God, a beloved, beautiful human being, equal to all others, with a divine order to be your brother's/sister's keeper. You will see the times you hid your light, afraid you would make others feel less worthy, or afraid you weren't worthy enough to shine. The view won't allow you the realization that your light is not yours alone. It is the light of God shining through you, a light that lifts others up, a light more worthy of illuminating your life's path than any other light that may fall upon it.

Point Power is a culmination of all the things you saw and all the things you failed to see when you stood and looked back at the view of your life from points of powerlessness. Regret, bitterness, desperation, sorrow, fear - they're all there - but so are your times of joy, times of triumph, times of love and laughter. Point Power is the realization that life will always hold both sweetness and suffering. You stand at Point Power with gathered threads of wisdom woven into your heart, with a better understanding of the frailties and failings of humankind. Both tears of happiness and tears of pain are counted and remembered, along with the knowledge that every tear of sorrow will be wiped from your eyes forever - one day. From Point Power you remember the sadness of every earthly good bye, but you also anticipate the bliss of every hello in heaven. You see how very short the span of life is, on the continuum of time. You know your life has a God-given purpose and that no person, or no thing, can stop you from finding your purpose and living your life according to the glorious reason for which you were created. Point Power is the place you stand, knowing that God is always near, standing at your right hand, never leaving you to stand alone. 

© Terri McPherson, www.WiseHearts.com

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  “May the Lord make your love increase and overflow for each other and for everyone else, just as ours does for you.” 1Th 3:12