When Perspective Is Elusive . . .

Would you like a double-cheeseburger or a $100 bill?  Seriously, which one would you prefer?  It's your choice.  You can have either one and all you have to do is make the decision.  It sounds like a simple choice, doesn't it?  Of course you take the $100 bill.  If you want the cheeseburger that bad you just take the $100 and go buy one and then you have a cheeseburger and about $98 left (depending on where you get the cheeseburger).  But what if you were stranded alone on a desserted island?  There are no restaurants.  There are no banks.  There's nowhere to spend the money.  You're hungry, alone and unsure of when or if rescue is coming.  Which choice is more valuable now?

Perspective is powerful.  Perspective is what we see through our own point of view.  Sometimes we get so caught up in ourselves we forget that everyone else has their own perspective as well.  An unknown author said, "When you only look at the world through a keyhole you think the whole world is shaped like a keyhole."  Who would do that?  Who would only try to look at the world through a keyhole and then have the audacity to think that they're seeing everything the way it was meant to be seen?  Don't we all do that everyday?  We may not look through a keyhole but in our humanness we certainly have a limited perspective.

A bride is devastated because it's raining on her wedding day, while a farmer rejoices at the drought-breaking moisture that just might save his season.  Perspective.

We boycott buying gasoline from companies who purchase their oil from "terrorist-harboring" nations, while honest-working employees of those companies lose jobs that support their families.  Perspective.

Searching for Osama Bin-Laden is a waste of time and money . . . until it's "your party" who captures him.  Perspective.

Gun restrictions seem like a terrible idea . . . until it's your loved ones on the wrong end of the barrel.  Perspective. 

This is not a political rant.  Can we all just look at the erroneous ways in which we view the world?  Can we please just gain a little perspective?

Perspective is gained in many ways.  Sometimes you unintentionally experience something from another's point of view and you gain perspective.  At other times you you have to be intentional about seeing things from another point of view in order to gain that perspective.  Because as human beings we are naturally self-centered, we have to make the conscious effort to realize the way we see things may not be the way they were meant to be seen.

We think we're tall . . . until you look up.
The swimming pool seems warm . . . until you get in the hot tub.
The mountain-top looks desireable from the ground . . . until you get on the mountain and see how beautiful the ground looks.
The things of this world seem really important . . . until you lose something that means the world to you.

One of the most difficult aspects of losing Thomas and dealing with the aftermath has been making sense of the command in Scripture to "rejoice in our suffering," . . . to "be thankful in all things" . . . and to "consider it pure joy when we face trials of many kinds."  How do you find joy and thankfulness in the midst of life's most painful suffering?  Even the thought of being joyful brings on those feelings of guilt; that somehow by rejoicing and being thankful we will be making light of the fact that Thomas died.  Or even worse, that we will be glad he died. 

Isn't joy in the midst of suffering all about gaining a little perspective?

I think so much of gaining perspective is making the choice to gain perspective.  If there's anything I can say I'm thankful for and rejoicing in, it's that God has given us a new perspective.  From this point forward everything we experience will be viewed through the lense of losing our precious son.  When you look at things through that perspective the things we thought were "important" before just don't seem so now. 

Spending time with my family is more important than any meeting, to-do list, tv show, home project, guys-night-out, game on tv . . . and way more important than satisfying my own laziness. 

Sure, life must go on, and there are certain things you still have to accomplish, but a little perspective to help get priorities back in order is something I'm thankful for.  Life can change in an instant.  It's better to get them in order now than wish you did when it's too late.  Trust me.