Matter of Perspective

It's a matter of perception. Is the glass half full or half empty? Sometimes, all that is needed is a paradigm shift (pronounced "pair-a-dime", not "pair-a-digum, just to be clear).

In order to see our lives clearly, we need a bird's-eye-view, but we're stuck below, looking at life from the perspective of the worm. I think St. Louis de Montfort would greatly appreciate that analogy.

Isaiah challenges us with a very direct question from the Lord:

see, I am doing something new!
Now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?

"Don't you not perceive it?" Don't you get it? Don't you see what's happening? My honest answer to this line of questioning is "No." I don't get it, I don't see what the Lord is doing. I am often confused and distressed because of this very fact. I desperately want to see what is going on and to understand what it happening, but I always seem to be one step behind.

But, as I said before, it's all a matter of perspective. When I heard those words from Isaiah, I realized that I don't see what's happening because I don't see what God sees. My vision is short-sighted, but He's looking at the long game. I can only see what is right in front of my face, but God can see the whole picture. His ways are not our ways. His sight is not our sight. Out of pride, we tend to think that we know what's best. We think that because we are in the moment, we have the best perspective. People often say that hindsight always brings enlightenment, but think about how clear your view would be if you could see every moment, past, present and future, all in one moment. Now that would be a lot better than 20/20 vision. Don't you agree?

Until we get to Heaven, we are never going to be able to see what God sees. That might seem like bad news, but there is some light at the end of this dark tunnel. God still sees it all clearly right now, and on top of that, He wants to control our lives so as to provide for everything that we might need. Basically, He's going to do the grunt work, we just need to cooperate and go along for the ride.

Now, you're right in thinking it's not quite that simple in the end, but we do tend to complicate life more so than necessary. Think of it more like this:

Here's the situation: The Lord is doing something new in each of our lives and most of us have no idea what exactly that is going to look like.

Here are our options: One, we can run around like chickens with their heads cut off trying frantically do figure out what's going on; or two, we can swallow our pride, submit to the Will of God, and let Him show us what He has planned.

As fun as the first option may sound, I can assure you that running around in circles is exhausting (not to mention getting your head cut off sounds very painful). The second option is, I believe, the most satisfying. What we need to do (I'm including myself here) is to ask the Lord to give us His vision. Let us pray together for the guidance of the Holy Spirit Who will show us the grandness of the new life God has planned for us, His beloved children.

May God be praised!