Mark Carey writes:
Perspective Is Everything - Returning to the Heart of It All
In these 10 days of prayer and fasting, we’re not just reducing meals or increasing opportunities to gather to pray. We are adjusting our perspective - returning our hearts to the heart of it all: Jesus.
Commit to Simplicity
Colossians 1:15–23 draws our eyes back to the One who holds all things together. When we fix our focus on ONE, not the many, everything finds its right place. But when we lose that focus, we become disestablished, distracted, and shifted. And distraction is the enemy’s favourite tactic to clutter the soul, crowd the mind and cram the calendar.
Intentional fasting and prayer help us strip back and refocus. In these 10 days, we resist the quiet idols shaping our culture and influencing our lives - consumerism, individualism, pride - and we act in holy defiance by choosing simplicity. Christ is the centre, and we return to Him again.
Take Responsibility & Tighten Your Discipline
Paul’s words ring clear: “Continue securely established and steadfast, without shifting from the hope…” (Col. 1:23). This requires intention, not drift.
If Christ is the Head, does He truly have first place? First in our time, first in our choices, first in our desires?
Fasting exposes what has taken “first place” - these days sharpen our focus and strengthen our discipline.
Attend to Your Heart
“The LORD looks at the heart…” (1 Sam. 16:7). These 10 days invite us to look also to our hearts. The early church understood this deeply. Their greatest witness wasn’t their words but their lives:
“The beauty of our life causes strangers to join our ranks.
We do not talk about great things; we live them.”
Minucius Felix (160–240 AD)
That is the call before us - to live the great things.
As we pray, fast, resist distraction, choose simplicity, and steward our hearts, our perspective shifts - and from that shift, everything else changes.
Perspective is everything. And when Jesus is our focus, everything becomes clear.
Rev. Canon Mark Carey. Vicar of CCBN.