The Gift of Perspective

​I get a kick out of traveling to and flying out of airports.  But, it may not be in the way you’d expect.
 
Spending hours in a long tube that resembles a mini Quonset hut - while sitting in an uncomfortable seat with hundreds of other people - doesn’t particularly excite me.  Security lines, and milling around while waiting to board doesn’t float my boat either. 
 
What I love most is being forced to experience contrasts.  Huh?
 
Here’s what I mean.

​For years, my wife and I lived in the mountains east of Los Angeles.  When we drove to the Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), it was a two hour drive on freeways that were six-eight lanes wide – each way.  There was a crush of traffic that flowed or crawled to your destination.  The terms “speed and rush hour” were misnomers.  Often, quite the opposite occurred.  Trucks loomed.  Fumes and noise compressed the space.  Traffic surrounded, immersed, and dominated the drive.  It consumed your perspective.

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​Then, two hours later, I was magically soaring over the same freeways – the same lanes of traffic.  Yet, at two thousand feet above (and climbing) my perspective on those same vehicles had shifted.  With the change of perspective, my outlook also shifted.   I saw and felt things differently.

​At one point in my life, I took a college course called “The Art of Film”.  I learned about the role of camera angles in contributing to mood and tension in movie making.  The same is true with photography, which is a hobby of mine.   Looking at things from a different point of view from time to time helps to challenge our perspective.  It shakes things up a bit, and gives us a chance to evaluate or reevaluate our values or mindset.  A change of view can do that.

​Outside the box is another way to describe a shift in perspective.  When I am challenged to do things a different way, it helps me to think about how and why I do things the way I do.  Besides serving and ministering, a cross-cultural mission trip helps me reevaluate my perspective on God and his work in the world.  Being immersed in a different language – with different values, customs, and world-view gives me a chance to experience life differently.   It gives me a chance to reset my view on life.

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​I think the human ability to recognize, appreciate, and learn from perspective is truly a gift from God.  In a sense, it’s refreshing to periodically see things from a different point of view.  The world is big.  God is bigger.  He’s in control.  I am not.  The world doesn't revolve around me.  And, that’s a thing I need to be reminded of periodically.   

Thank you, Lord, for the gift of perspective!

Next Time:  Alignment

Photo Credits:
Top: pixabay.com/users/Gellinger-201217/ 
Middle: pixabay.com/photos/architecture-buildings-cars-city-1837176/
​Bottom: Carr Collection: Guatemala