There is an old saying that reads, “Your view of things depends on how you look at them.” Time and time again, I’ve found this to be true. I recently flew over the Rocky Mountains and was reminded again that life heavily depends on perspective.
As the plane taxied along the runway, workers and machinery appeared regular size, and sometimes intimidating. But as the aircraft left the ground, objects and people began to shrink until we were suspended in the air; those people turned into dots on the ground below, and then vanished altogether.
Had they really transformed into nothingness, or was there an explanation for the change in appearance? We all know the truth; what we are viewing is not reality from the sky, but appearance and scenes morph depending on the viewer’s perspective.
2 Corinthians 4:18 ESV As we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal.
Life is flushed with potential misconceptions, but once matters are placed in perspective, they become easier to deal with.
For example, someone makes what they think is a horrible mistake, but their action turns out to be an incredible blessing. A mother puts her child up for adoption; a father loses his job; a child has a horrible accident; a young romantic gets jilted by the one they loved; a person is late for work or an important meeting.
The mother realizes that she has given her child a better life; the father finds a job that is better than he ever imagined; the child (i.e. Joni Eareckson Tada) develops a ministry to help handicapped people around the world; the romantic finds the strength they need to face life and start all over again, and ultimately, they find the person who is the right mate for him or her. That person who was late for work held an office in the Twin Towers, and their lateness saved their life on 9/11.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2 ESV For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven.
When those horrid situations happen, I ‘ve found that the best way to deal with them is to imagine scenarios that could happen within the next five, ten or twenty years. I place myself in that timeline, looking back on the present happenstance, and picture what it could possibly look like from that future timeline. Actually, in the light of eternity, how important will this event be? Probably just a bump in the road along the way to the future.
I have found that no matter how crazy life gets, I can depend on God to work things out on my behalf. Yes, life gets messy at times, but with the grace of God, it can be bearable.
Romans 8:28 ESV And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.
It seems to me that the sole perspective that really counts is God’s, as he gazes down upon us human beings. In our own eyes, we seem invincible and not subject to the laws of nature. But when we grasp the greatness of our Creator and the puniness of our own humanity, we can’t help but wonder how God can even acknowledge us, much less know each of us intimately. However, scripture declares over and over that He does, indeed, know the hairs on our heads and the number of our days. How could we possibly be more special, when we belong to the Lord of the Universe?
Luke 12:7 – But even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear not therefore: ye are of more value than many sparrows.
Psalm 139:16 Your eyes have seen my unformed substance; And in Your book were all written the days that were ordained for me, when as yet there was not one of them.
God does indeed have a plan for our lives. Trust Him to bring it to pass.
Jeremiah 29:11 ESV For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.
