I was surprised to find a handful of raspberries on our little bush this morning.

My husband has been regularly harvesting the fruit. Some berries likely ripened after his last visit to that corner of the yard, but as I leaned this way and that, squatted and straightened, moved leaves and peered around branches, I saw another reason for the harvest: perspective.

There was a lot more fruit on the bush than I realized when I first approached. I only found it because I kept changing the view from which I looked.

I bet if my husband had been beside me, he would’ve found even more because his perspective would’ve been slightly different, and that would’ve given him the view he needed to find berries I overlooked.

Sometimes, in my faith walk, I confess I feel like there isn’t much left to discover. My Scripture reading sometimes feels like yet another pass through a picked over raspberry bush. What could possibly be left?

A lot. After all, the Bible is the word of the infinite God. With Him, there’s always more to discover.

But sometimes, it takes fresh eyes to see it.

Friends sometimes have fresh perspectives that help me see and apply truth in ways I hadn’t before.

Non-fiction books and blog posts can present things in a new or deeper or clearer way. (Recently, I appreciated this blog post from Becky Wade.)

And, as an author and a reader, this list wouldn’t be complete without mentioning fiction. One reason I was thinking about perspective at all when I went out to pick berries this morning was that, in the book I’m reading, the hero’s epiphany comes from a perspective shift suggested by one of his friends.

That scene reminded me that perspective is important.

And it reminded me that fiction is one way to consider other perspectives. Especially when I read Christian fiction, I can be surprised by how a familiar truth suddenly sparkles in new light.

We all need fresh perspective sometimes.

Oh, and those berries I picked this morning? I left them for my husband. He loves them more than I do, and … well, we’re all a little better off when we share the fruit of our fresh perspectives, right?

How do you feed your faith walk with fresh perspective? Any books—fiction or non-fiction—that have helped recently?

P.S. I’m running a HUGE giveaway for my book To Bring You Back on Goodreads right now. Enter here. (And speaking of perspective, the story wrestles with question about God’s forgiveness, guilt, shame, and the hope we have in Christ. The journey helped my perspective, and I pray that readers will find it entertaining, but also a helpful perspective.)

When Scripture reading feels like a pass through a picked over raspberry bush, what could possibly be left? A lot. Sometimes finding it just takes a new perspective. Plus a huge #giveaway for To Bring You Back #christianromance Click To Tweet

Raspberry photo by Jonathan Mast on Unsplash