Perspective

(originally penned 1/12/16)

I love trees! Their stature, their strength, their variety, their resilience, but most of all, their beauty. And I love the way that nature teaches me lessons a...bout life, over and over again...

Because I don't have an office with a view yet, I have resorted to natural landscape screensavers to remind me that there's a big, green world outside, just waiting for me to enjoy. Anyway, recently, a picture flashed across the screen, and my initial reaction was less than favorable. It was a close up picture of tree bark. I frowned as I thought, "How did that get in there?" But since I had no control over the images in that particular screensaver package, I had to let it slide. A few minutes later, the same tree flashed across the screen, but this time it was a more comprehensive picture of the entire tree. My reaction was exactly the opposite this time. I thought, "What an absolutely gorgeous tree!" It wasn't until after the thought was completed that I recognized it as the same tree.

How often in life do we do the same thing? I mean, not just make a hasty judgment, but not take unto account the big picture? How often have marriages ended because all he/she can see now is the ugliness of the past few fights, but don't look at the entire victory picture of the past decades of winning the war side by side? How many friendships have died because of one slip of the tongue that caused the heart to forget the many obstacles overcome together? How many missed opportunities because the individual wasn't dressed "right" for our taste? So often we fail to see the forest for the trees (pun fully intentional).

Just like with my change of perspective with the tree, sometimes we need to step back and assess the big picture, instead of picking on the immediate details. Sometimes the whole is much greater than the sum of the parts. Sometimes stepping back, or away, can grant a never before experienced perspective that can change an entire outlook...

But what do I know?