Perspective

I awoke this morning and dreaded even crawling out of bed, but with a scratchy throat and stuffy nose I decided to get going after hitting the snooze button for the tenth time. Just as I expected, another cold and frosty morning. I use a little warm water to get rid of the ice on my windshield then climb on in for my normal hour long commute. As I drive down the road I can see every breath I take rolling past my slightly numb lips, just another chilly drive since my heater went out and winter set in. As I tend to do on my morning drive, I spend some time talking with God. As my cold fingers grip the even colder steering wheel, I thank him for the fact that I have transportation to get to work, I thank him that I have a job to provide for my family, and I thank him for the sweet auburn clad Snuggie that is currently wrapped around my neck like an over sized scarf.

Shortly after my talk (prayer or whatever), I merge onto I-10 West bound and as the slight fog dissipates I see an image that catches my eye. The view I have is of a full moon next to the RSA tower in downtown Mobile, but not just any moon what appears to be the biggest moon I've ever seen. As I continue on my daily journey the view before me begins to slowly change. The moon begins to change, it grows smaller and smaller with each passing mile until it is only a fraction of the size it was when I first caught sight of it. Or perhaps through some bizarre circumstance the building itself had somehow grown larger. Now I now better than to think that the moon had gotten smaller or that the building had gotten bigger. The only thing that has changed was me, the only thing that had changed was my perspective. Nothing about either one had changed, but where "I was" had changed my view of them. This same concept is so very true in all aspects of my life and my faith.

It's all about perspective. Something as simple as not having a heater on a cold winter morning allowed me to see this so clearly. I feel now that I was blessed by not having that warmth blowing from my dash, because I may have missed the very thing that God intended to blow through my thoughts and my soul this very morning. He never ceases to amaze me, through the way he chooses to change me, through the things he does to enlighten me, and how subtly he does it.  I used to have a view of God that was so very different from the view I have today. God is so much bigger, so much better, so much more than I ever thought was or could be.  God has not changed, only my perspective of him has changed. The closer I get to him the more beautiful he becomes. The closer I get to him the more I notice him in my life. The closer I get to him the more I love myself and others. The closer I get to him the closer I what to become.

Psalm 139:1-14 gives us a glimpse of the greatest perspective of all; God's perspective.

You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
If I say, “Surely the darkness will hide me
and the light become night around me,”
even the darkness will not be dark to you;
the night will shine like the day,
for darkness is as light to you.
For you created my inmost being;
you knit me together in my mother’s womb.
I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made;
your works are wonderful,
I know that full well.