Thursday, February 10, 2011

Got the Manure, Show Me the Pony

Having perspective is important. Knowing where things fit into the bigger picture makes fixing things a whole lot easier. A tiny spring lying on the workbench with no context may seem like debris, but with a point of reference—an understanding of what it was made for and where it fits—it becomes important, perhaps essential. Knowing where things fit into the bigger picture of our lives can help us get pieces back together and move us forward again.

Whenever a moment gets disconnected from the whole, tossed on a workbench with no context, we lose the value of what has happened and why. Not knowing where this moment fits, what led up to it or what comes after it, makes the moment an isolated event. And taken as an isolated event I may not fully appreciate why it’s in my life.

If I look through a knothole in the fence at a train passing by, I’m only going to see what’s right in front of me. I’ll lose context. I don’t know where this is going or how much longer it will take. I’m locked into only what the hole lets me see. My point of reference is fixed and limited.

If I climb over the fence I can enlarge my perspective. I can see what went before, what’s coming after, and I can judge how much longer this may take. Perspective changes everything.

Obviously, I’m not going to have perspective in all matters of my life. The present moment may overwhelm my ability to even climb the fence. But as a child of God, I live with the assurance that I have a Father who maintains total perspective. He knows the beginning and the end as well as the middle. Everything fits and has purpose to Him.

My job is to trust Him. All that’s going on in my life is not His will, but in all that’s going on, He has a will. Therefore, I have to believe that the moments of my life connect to some purpose even when they are beyond my ability to understand, a purpose clear to the God who has perspective. Faith is the mechanism through which I rest in God’s perspective.

It is not a sappy old expression—I may not know what the future holds but I know Who holds the future. It is the truth.

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