The Right Glasses

June 5, 2023

Something wasn’t right. The picture on Facebook showed one of my closest friends about to be pounced on by a Tyrannosaurus rex. The beast towered over him, claws extended and mouth wide open. He looked terrified.

In this case, a toy dinosaur, near the camera, looked like it was attacking my friend who was actually in the background, far enough away to seem smaller than the beast.

You’ve probably seen this kind of ‘perspective’ illusion before. Someone can be made to look like they are holding the moon, if their uplifted hands are placed in just the right place. If you catch them jumping up, with a tall building in the background, it can look like they are leaping over the building. It’s not “photo shop” or fake, it’s perspective.

Perspective is how you look at things. You can see things through the lens of your own background or upbringing. You can have the perspective of a United States citizen when traveling in a foreign country, which can cause you all kinds of problems. An animal activist sees deer hunting much differently than a hunter. At times our perspective is wrong, and at times it’s just different.

When I was a teen, I had a very limited perspective on everyday problems. It was earth-shattering when my car wouldn’t start. A pretty girl smiling at me meant love. A failing grade on a pop quiz ruined my whole week.

Somehow we must try to see life through God’s eyes. I know we will never match our Maker’s perspective, but maybe we could start to understand that the most important things in this world are relationships with other people and God. Other things, like whether our favorite sports team won or if we can afford to go out to a nice restaurant just don’t measure up.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8-9