Perspective

Have you ever noticed how some people just roll with things? These are the people that good, bad or ugly, they just have a great attitude and they say things like, "Yeah, I got fired, but this gives me an opportunity to learn something new", or "Yeah, my husband left me, but now I will see if I can stand on my own", or "Yeah, this sucks, but it will make me stronger", or "Yeah, but it could be worse".  These people are great....unless they say these things to me when I'm upset and then I want to cry and punch them in the throat and scream angrily "You are crazy, just let me wallow in my little tragedy here and save your truth for yourself". And once I calm down, I realize that the thing I hate most about these people is that they are absolutely right!  One of the many inevitabilities in this life is that lots of things are not going to go as we want or as we plan and that is just the way it is, but the upside is that we have a choice in how we react to these disappointments, setbacks and tragedies we encounter.  Our perspective is what will determine our response when things do not go the way we think they should go.
It isn't just our own personal setbacks we grumble about, but we get so disheartened when we see so much that is bad in our world. This is the age old concern of all of us trying to live daily in a crumbling, broken world.  Many of us ask repeatedly things like, "if God is good, then why....?" and the answer is very simply, because we lack proper perspective.  I am NOT saying we are not allowed to be upset at injustice or that grief and mourning do not have their proper place, because they do and we should mourn our tragedies and sympathize with others.  What I am saying is that bad things in life are part of the process and when we look outside of ourselves and contemplate the billions upon billions of people that have traversed the world before us and the billions in existence right now, it serves to shrink us and our difficulties to the proper size.  I am not making light of suffering because it is real, and grief must be dealt with and experienced in its proper perspective as well.  We all share in this grief and it is something that often brings us together in a shared understanding of what it means to not be in control and reminds us of the need to find not only eternal salvation outside ourselves, but also comfort from a God who sees and knows all.  
In thinking about this idea of perspective I must ask: Have you ever been to an art museum?  I have been to some of the largest in the world and I can tell you that it is completely overwhelming. That’s because seeing all of the works together is too much for us to contemplate (access to every tragedy on the planet via the internet-really bad idea).  And, have you ever gotten really close to a painting and focused on one ugly smudge of brown on the canvas?  If you only looked at that tiny smudge, it would seem the whole thing is ugly. You have to step back and view it in its entirety to appreciate any beauty that might be found.  It is about perspective.  If we narrow in and focus on a smudge, we only see that and we fail to see how it is incorporated with all the other smudges and color to create something beautiful!  And if we look at all the paintings and sculpture all at once and try to appreciate them, we get overwhelmed and can’t focus on each individual item’s beauty.  Works of art are displayed because they are finished products available to view, but we are God’s eternal works and we aren’t yet finished.
God created each of us lovingly and has given each of us some beautiful smudges, but we wouldn’t be whole without the ugly brown smudges.  He sees everything in this world with an eternal perspective.  He sees all of the past and all of the future already accomplished, so He knows that all of it, however painful at the moment, has purpose.  If we look at things from His perspective we will begin to see our lives as unfinished works of art that must endure some colors we don't like, but which are necessary to provide the whole picture.  The Bible reminds us that those in Christ should not lose heart because there is beauty waiting in the unseen world of eternity (2 Corinthians 4:16-18).  His perspective and love for us is eternal; that is why He chose to leave heaven, took up the burden of humanity and endured the cross of calvary for us.
Perspective basically means “the way we see things” and rather than striving to understand all I cannot, I would wish for all of us to see that our lifespan on this earth, although it is all we have known, is not all we will ever know and that it is less than a drop in the bucket of each existence.  Let me remember Lord, that all is for your purpose, however confusing to my limited understanding, and let me remember that you have not yet put down the brush with which my life is being painted.  All eternity lies in you and with you and I pray I would see my life with that perspective of limitless eternity, rather than the narrow limits of earthbound vision. 

 
 

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