Dear Friend, Our perspective on life means everything.
Perspective is the lens through which we filter life. To put things “in perspective” is to see people, places, and circumstances in correct proportion.
A proper perspective depends on the right point of view. It’s the difference between looking at the city from the top of a tall building or seeing it from the middle of a busy intersection. If we view things from our limited standpoint, we can quickly lose perspective on the people and circumstances swirling around us. Petty matters tend to cloud our vision. We miss the forest for the trees and fail to discern between primary and secondary issues, the good and the best.
What is needed is to pause, step back, and look at things from God’s frame of mind.
This principle is true in the visual arts, where paintings from the Middle Ages appear two dimensional and unrealistic. They lack perspective. With the discovery of linear perspective in the Renaissance, artists learned to represent three dimensional objects on a two-dimensional canvas.
The secret is to draw everything from a single “vanishing point,” which frames people and objects in their proper height, width, depth, and relation to one another.
In real life, the key to mastering every situation, taking surprises in stride, and treating others rightly is to live out of the eternal point of view found in Jesus. That is, to set our mind on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.” (See Colossians 3:1-3).
We can put the day in real perspective by quieting ourselves before the Lord each morning and pausing from time to time to recenter on him throughout the day.
“Let us keep running the race, which lies ahead, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, who leads us.” (See Hebrews 12:1-2. New Jerusalem Bible).
Affectionately,
Chris Halverson