Perspective… is everything.
Scenario 1:
It’s late Friday afternoon. You and everyone else at the crowded airport are trying to get home after a long week. Every flight is packed! But you’re looking forward to tonight’s birthday party for your daughter. When you finally get your seat assignment your heart sinks as you realize you’re stuck in the very last row — you know, the one that won’t recline because of the wall right behind your seat. (That wall, by the way, is for the restroom. This means there will be constant traffic and flushing noises to keep you company on this flight!) Your seat is the “window” seat, which for this row means you get to stare at the jet engine — a mere 6 inches away from your “window” and roaring so loudly you won’t be able to hear yourself think. You’re more than a little peeved. Your rising temperature rivals that of the hot jet exhaust on the other side of your window. Thankful? Hardly.
Scenario 2:
It’s late Friday afternoon. You and everyone else at the crowded airport are trying to get home after a long week. Every flight is packed! But you’re looking forward to tonight’s birthday party for your daughter. Standing in the long line for a seat assignment, however, it becomes apparent that the airline has overbooked the flight and you and about ten others are NOT going to be on this flight. The next available flight has you arriving home at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday. There goes the birthday party and half the weekend! But all of a sudden your name is paged and the clerk tells you, “We have one seat and one seat only that just became available — it’s a window seat next to the jet engine on the last row; it doesn’t recline because of the wall for the restroom. Do you want it?” You’re ecstatic: “Absolutely!” And you ride all the way home with a smile on your face in that upright, noisy “window” seat. Thankful? Absolutely. All you needed was some perspective.
Just this week the Lord gave me one of those perspective adjusters. On Monday afternoon I pulled hard on the rope to start the gas engine of my pressure washer. The rope broke and my clenched fist flew up into my eye. The pain was intense. A black eye developed pretty quickly. More worrisome, after a couple of hours I started seeing black lines and spots in that eye. Early Tuesday I went to the eye doctor, who was immediately concerned: “There are two kinds of retinal detachment. One is extremely serious and we’ll be sending you right into surgery if that’s the type you have. Retinal reattachment surgery involves four weeks of lying face-down in recovery, and you may still lose your sight.” My heart was pounding.
By the Lord’s mercies I do not have the serious kind of retinal detachment. But the doctor said I will have these floating black lines and spots for the rest of my life.
As soon as I could get alone I knelt down and thanked the Lord for these black lines and spots. I have decided to embrace them as life-long reminders of God’s merciful preservation of sight in that eye. Perspective.
Are you in a tough spot, friend? My prayer for you is that the Lord will grant you an enlightened perspective for the situation in which you find yourself. Will you receive that from Him?
Blessings,
