Perspective

(Photo by M. Toerner; March/2009)

                                                                                                                                Is this a sunrise or a sunset?  Your answer will depend on your perspective.  Looking at the picture, can you be 100% sure it's the early morning light of a new day?  Are you confident it's the sun peaking its yellow head above the horizon?  Or, could it be capturing the day's final, fleeting moments?  Your answer will be based on your perspective.  

Perspective is the view we take of something or someone.  It is how we "see" a person, thing, or situation.  Perspective is individual specific.  It's the proverbial, "You see the glass as half-full or half-empty."  Often siblings have different memories and interpretations of their family of origin because their perspectives differ.

Having a personal relationship with God changes a person's eternal destination.  It also changes their earthly perspective.  God sees and perceives perfectly.  To Him, a day is like a thousand years and a thousand years is like one day.  He is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent. He understands what we do and why we do it.  Because of His perfect maturity and perfect wisdom, He perceives properly and accurately.  

As one is conformed to His image, he/she adopts this eternal perspective.  It is as though they are able to see earthly things from a heavenly vantage point.  It is the heavenly vantage point that enables one to stay calm during a storm, to not react to a child's tantrums, to not own what they are not responsible for.  

Always ask yourself how God might look at a situation, a person, or whatever.  Search for this divine perspective.  It is always there.  Remember the more you practice seeing as God sees, the easier it gets.  (BTW, the above picture is of a sunset.  Just in case you were interested.)

Blessings,

Murphy