What do you think when you see this picture?
An old run-down building?
An eyesore? A couple of weeks ago I was flying back to Nashville from my trip home for harvest. It was abnormally windy and really rainy in Nashville as we started to make our descent. Normally flying doesn’t bother me at all, I can sleep through take off and landing with the best of them. This flight was pretty rough though: five minutes into the decent I was certain soon I was about to figure out who “the others” are because our plane was about to go down and naturally I’d join Kate, Sawyer, and Jack on the LOST island. OK, so maybe my imagination was getting the best of me, but it seriously was a very turbulent landing. Literally all I could see outside my window was a white fog. As we bounced from cloud to cloud, I just kept thinking “I just want to see how close we are to the ground so I know how long this will continue. I just want to see the ground. I just want to see the ground.”
Just when I wasn’t sure I could take any more bouncing around, the white fog outside my window finally parted dramatically like the Red Sea. The familiar Nashville buildings were below…finally, perspective.
Perspective, it makes all the difference. As soon as I could see the ground, the windy landing didn’t bother me because I knew what to be expecting and gage how much longer it would be until our wheels touched the runway. I couldn’t control our plane, but just seeing the bigger picture of where we were made all the difference. I realized how this landing relates to so many aspects of my life.
How often do I live my life in the white fog when the “big picture” view of the ground is accessible to me? It’s easy to get so caught up in the little things and turn them into a big deal or the “what ifs” that I have absolutely no control of. Before I know it, I’m back in that seat on the plane, lost in the white fog and freaking out that because I can’t see the ground. But unlike the situation on the plane, a grounded, “big picture” perspective in life is always an option…even when there are some unknowns.
William recently challenged our meal group with a profound statement that has really stuck with me:
“You find what you’re looking for.”
Am I looking to find the clear, broad view of why I was created, what I can be learning in each circumstance, and my purpose in life? Or am I creating my own fog?
So back to this picture.
While it may just look like an old, run-down building to some, to me it is a piece of my family’s history. This building was once a one-roomed schoolhouse where my Grandma Thomsen taught and where she met my Grandpa. This is the scene of where my mom’s parent’s story began and consequently, years later my story.
Like I said, perspective makes all the difference.
Labels: Reflect
