It’s All About Perspective
Continuing on with my animal-sitting here in Austin, I was taking the 2,000 lb longhorn, Vamanos, his morning meal, consisting of huge grain pellets and lots of hay. He is usually standing at the fence waiting or at least comes trotting if he is a distance away. Yesterday, no sign of Vamanos. I clanged the gate with the chain. Nada. I hollered and yelled for him. Nada. Suddenly, I became alarmed. NEVER had he not shown up for his mealtime. I, cautiously, walked inside the fence and went down a path that leads to a thick treed area, but then Mother Wisdom warned me about getting too far from the gate so I could make a quick exit if he shows up. He seems like a gentle giant, but my good instincts tell me he sees “red” when he sees me!
In a distance, I saw what looked to be horns and a carcass in the field. My heart was beating a mile a minute. I imagined wild animals had attacked him and eaten him up. As I walked closer, I was greatly relieved that it was the remains of a fallen tree looking exactly like what my imagination was telling me. After breathing a sigh of relief, I made my way back to the gate and called some more. I started pondering “Who can I call to go into that pasture and treed area to see if he is okay or hurt or sick?” I thought, “I’ll give it an hour (it was 7 am) and then I’ll go back and see if he showed up. As I was walking away, meandering up the hill, was Vamanos. I probably had awakened him from one of those mornings deep periods of sleep.
Of course, I would find a post for today out of that morning ordeal. My perspective was imagining the worst possible scenario and my vision saw it just that. Not until I got closer to the false scenario, did I change my perspective.
How many times do we imagine the worst possible thing to happen in our lives instead of getting a reality check? We hear the weather reports and rather than turning to the Creator of the weather, we succumb to fear and anxiety. We come up against some tough times financially, and we see ourselves going bankrupt instead of turning to He Who owns the cattle on a thousand hills (gotta’ keep up with my farm analogy). We see a light at the end of the tunnel but it’s a train coming to take us out instead of the Light of the World turning things around for us.
Even though our perspective might be skewed and we may not see things clearly, just hold on. Time will pass and we will see it as clearly as God had planned all along. It will be like seeing with new eyes. Seeing things through His planned perspective. ‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.’ {Jeremiah 29:11}
When we let our own limited perspective get in our way, we miss God in the midst. When we dwell on the outcome, we miss what is happening now. He is right there with us. He knows the way. He has the plan all figured out and He knows how it will all come together.
Just as Vamanos came sauntering up for his breakfast instead of being eaten alive as my perspective had made me think…..God will saunter or stroll along for a while, and in His perfectly set time…..we will see Him clearly and we will see the BIG PICTURE He planned all along.