One Word: Panoramic Perspective

One of the comments left on my last post on choosing a word for the year began like this:  "That's a very big word..."

Perspective is a very big word. It can cover the expanse of the universe in a thousand ways. It's a way of looking at things, a point of view, or a frame of mind. That can go in lots of different directions for lots of different people.

As I mentioned in my last post, God is taking this word far beyond what I thought. We're not even through the second month yet, and my word! - perspective - is taking on some unique angles that I believe will bring defined focus and direction to life.

Several years ago on Dennis' sabbatical we drove out of Jackson Hole, Wyoming after a nights' stay to begin our drive toward Yellowstone, then onto Glacier National Park. Driving north, winding along the Snake River, the sweeping views of the Tetons kept our heads turning as one mountain peak rolled into another. At a distance, we could survey the 40-mile long stretch of snow-capped mountains that seemed to rise out of nowhere from the flat green pastures before us.

"Perspective" is taking me there in these first few months in the journey. Not back to the Tetons, but inviting me to step back and take a panoramic view of life.

In January I was gifted a book written by one of my favorite authors, Henri Nouwen, Spiritual Direction. I read it through in a matter of a week, and I'm now in the process of reading it through a second time, pacing each chapter over a week's time in order to soak it in deeply. The book, a posthumous presentation of Nouwen's teachings and thoughts on spiritual direction, has been incredibly timely, especially in light of the word perspective. In the fourth chapter entitled, Where Have I Been and Where Am I Going?, Nouwen describes how he taught his students on the spiritual life in relationship to these questions.

I sometimes drew a long straight line from the left edge to the right on the blackboard, and I'd explain: "This is our eternal life in God. You belong to God from eternity to eternity. You were loved by God before you were born; you will be loved by God long after you die." Then I would mark off a small segment of the line and say: "This is your human lifetime. It is only a part of your total life in God. You are here for just a short time - for twenty, forty, sixty, or eighty years - to discover and believe that you are a beloved child of God. The length of time doesn't matter. Life is just a short opportunity for you during a few years to say to God: 'I love you, too.' "

Now, I don't believe this is meant to be a sobering thought, though it might come across that way with the reality of how short life can be when measured in the line of eternity. But what the long straight line does for me is to give perspective from a distance.

I can take the chalk and mark my small segment of life on the blackboard. I can say that I am a beloved child of God living in the segment of life He has given me for this time and place in history. As a beloved child of God where have I been? As a beloved child of God where am I going? These are the questions I'm asking as I view the panorama of my life.