It's all about perspective

So, a lady and I were finishing off a conversation this morning when our pastor came along to say hello. She was holding a craft a child had left behind from Kids’ Church. Pondering, she turned it over and over and couldn’t decide if it was a bird, some kind of plane, or something completely different.

Moments later, we discovered that it was a bird, and the lady I was speaking to said, “See, it’s all about perspective.”

And, to be honest, that has stuck with me all day, even more so than the sermon, which was also very encouraging.

It got me thinking about perspective and how often the way we see things isn't necessarily the way they really are.

Our perspective might not be as clear or as accurate as we think it is. In fact, it could be way off.

What we've been through, how we're feeling, our expectations, our disappointments, our fears, or simply the fact that we're standing too close to a situation can all affect how we see things.

Sometimes things can become completely out of proportion because of the perspective we're looking at them from. Something that seemed enormous can suddenly look much smaller when we step back. Something we thought was the end can look very different when we see what came afterwards.

And sometimes all we need is a different perspective.

Someone else might see a situation in a way we haven't seen because they are standing somewhere different. They might say something that makes us stop and think, Oh, I hadn't thought about it like that.

I've had those conversations where someone hasn't actually given me an answer, but they've helped me see a situation differently, and somehow that has been enough to help me find my own way through it.

But I think there is something more to it than simply changing our perspective.

Because I can change my perspective and still get it wrong.

I can look at something from a completely different angle and still not see it clearly.

What we really need isn't just another perspective.

We need the right perspective.

And that's where God comes in.

My perspective is limited by what I know, what I can see and what I understand at this moment. God's perspective isn't limited in the same way. He sees the whole picture, including the things I cannot see, and He understands what I don't.

Sometimes I think we need to raise our thinking higher.

Instead of getting completely caught up in what is happening right in front of us, perhaps we need to step back and look at it from God's perspective.

• Have we asked Him for His perspective?

• What does He say about this?

• What does His Word say?

• What am I not seeing because I'm looking at this only through my own understanding?

• What might look completely different if I could see it the way He sees it?

That doesn't mean we suddenly have all the answers, because we don't.

There will always be things we don't understand, circumstances that don't make sense, and situations where we simply can't see what God is doing.

But perhaps faith is partly about learning to recognise that our perspective isn't the final perspective.

Sometimes we need another person to help us see something differently, and I'm thankful for those people. Sometimes God uses someone else's words, experience, or simply their way of looking at something to help us get our thinking back into perspective.

But ultimately, I don't want to settle for simply seeing things differently.

I want to see them rightly.

And sometimes that means lifting my eyes a little higher. It means getting out of my own head, stepping back from what I can see and asking God to help me see things from His perspective.

Because perhaps the problem isn't always the situation we're looking at.

Perhaps sometimes it's the way we're looking at it.

Maybe things have become distorted.

Maybe we've allowed something to become far bigger than it really is.

Maybe we're looking at something upside down and don't even realise it.

And maybe, just maybe, we need to change our thinking completely.

Not simply to find a different perspective, but to find God's perspective.

Because when we begin to see things from His perspective, it doesn't necessarily mean that the circumstances change. It may simply mean that we start to see them the way He sees them.

And sometimes, that can change everything.

So, yes, it really is all about perspective.

But perhaps the question isn't simply, “Can I see this differently?”

Perhaps the better question is,

“Am I seeing this the way God sees it?”

And that's something worth pondering.