Things look much different from 30,000 feet in the air.
Some things are hard to see. Roads and rivers are small. You need a very sharp eye to make out swimming pools. And individual vehicles are definitely hard to distinguish, if not invisible.
But some things are much easier to see from this vantage point. The size of towns and cities, especially when they light up at night. The small size of hills compared to the whole landscape. Cloud-to-cloud lightening. How “shallow” most weather is.
Isn’t it that way with our lives? We so get easily myopic – near-sighted. Our little problems become magnified. The way someone commented – or didn’t – on Facebook. Forgetting a necessary item at the grocery store. Missing a deadline. Forgetting to pay a bill. The thoughtless way a friend neglected to call when you expected them to.
Changing your perspective changes your attitude!
As I fly home this evening, nothing is different on the ground just because it looks different from up here. The traffic still backs up at the red light. The air is still hot and humid. People are still sad, or poor, or angry, or sick.
It’s not that those things aren’t important. It’s just that seeing things from a different perspective can provide a much calmer, wiser, more effective way of setting priorities, and of living our lives.
A few things I’ve found help provide a new perspective when I need one:
- Get a good night’s sleep. Nothing looks good when you’re tired.
- Take a day off. If you tend toward overwork, a day or a weekend away from work can remind you that the world doesn’t end if your job does!
- Play with a child. Children see things through eyes of wonder we grownups often lose sight of.
- Read something new. A different kind of book, or an article from someone who’s done what you want to do, can help you see things differently.
- Pray. And not the “beg and plead” kind of prayer: the LISTEN kind of prayer. God’s perspective is so much bigger and better than ours! Prayer helps us see things from His point of view.
Getting 30,000 feet up isn’t all that hard if you think about it. I think I like the view from up here!
Your turn: Do you get near-sighted easily? What do you use to find a new perspective?
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