2012-01-20

Perspectives

As I turned the corner and headed down the hill, the view didn't quite seem familiar, even though I've driven this road many times. I kept driving, looking for familiar landmarks and visual cues as to my location. Nothing. I crested another hill... and finally I saw the building I was looking for.

I questioned myself why this familiar road wasn't. I've traveled this direction on this road many times. Then it hit me - the world is different from 3 feet lower.

Usually, I sit behind the wheel of an Astro van. On this trip I was hugging the ground in a Toyota Camry. Maybe I'm making a bigger deal out of this than it warrants. Maybe not. Here is a fact: my perspective had changed.

A shift in perspective can make the world seem to be a different place, literally. Take hiking, for instance. You walk, or drag yourself, up a ridge, stop at the overlook provided, and drink in the view. Why is it there? For rest? Yes. But also for you to gain a different perspective on what is in front of you.

Now let's go the other direction. For sake of time, we will be transported to the bottom of a ravine, and for the sake of familiarity for the greatest number of people, let's visit Grand Canyon. It's around a mile deep, give or take a few. Looking up, the typical response is a feeling of insignificance and frailty within the universe.

Perspective changes how we see. Not deep but true. Once our view is changed, we may think differently about how we respond to what we see. Let me say it another way; a new perspective helps us respond differently to the normal flow of daily life.

As a family, our perspective has been in a state of change for the past several weeks. From resigning from a ministry, to moving, to looking for jobs, the landscape looks different all the time. This can be difficult, but with the Holy Spirit's constant presence, it helps us see life differently. I hope I am seeing life more the way God wants me to. After all, I think this change in perspective was ordered by God for that reason: to gain a new perspective, to gain a more godly perspective (2 Corinthians 4:17).