I am a 38-year-old pastor with three beautiful kids, I married my high school sweetheart, and I live in an upper middle class suburb. I was afforded the opportunity to go to private schools all the way through high school, and the Army shouldered the payments of my secondary education. My life has been beyond blessed.

And yet, I still have baggage.

It’s nobody’s fault, it is an unavoidable reality of the broken world we live in - no one is exempt from having baggage. And wether we want to admit it or not, our baggage shapes our perspective. You can’t look at the world without looking through the lens of the things that shaped you.

Obvious examples of this are; family addictions, abuse, divorce, bankruptcy, and about a thousand other obvious pieces of baggage that I am sure some of you are carrying.

Then there are less obvious (notice I didn’t say less important) examples of this sort of baggage; parent’s success, absentee family members, living in the digital world, and PTSD.

All of these events impact you in some way, it is unavoidable. So, what happens when you decide to give yourself permission to change perspective?

Giving yourself permission to change perspective is saying that you no longer have to be defined by the past in the same way. You can change the way you look through the lens. The past doesn’t change, but the future can.

In my latest conversation on the Reclamation Podcast my guest did just that. He gave himself permission to change perspective. After a tragic and life-altering event he gave himself permission for his baggage to change his purpose.

You can listen to the conversation here.

It got me thinking: What are you carrying that might be good for the world? Is there an event that shaped you that you might be able to use to shape someone else?

The journey starts with taking the time to self-evaluate. What has happened? How often do you remember it? How often do you try to block the memory? What was the emotional response in the moment?

I bet if you can get to those answers you’ll know exactly what you have to work with. From there (through prayer and talking with trusted counsel) I am willing to bet you can begin to hear God’s voice for what the future may hold.

You have permission to change perspective!