Perspective

It seems I can never sleep on planes no matter how late it is or how long the flight, partly because the seats are so uncomfortable (at least in coach) and partly because there’s just too much going on in my head to be able to sleep.

That was the case during our recent red eye flight to New York and though it was late and I was tired, I found myself listening to music on my ipod and staring out the window into the dark, until out the window in the distance something caught my attention. I didn't know what it was at first and seriously thought I was over-exhausted and seeing things, but it happened again and then kept happening. I finally realized that what I was seeing was lightning from above the clouds instead of from below them.

From above, there were no jagged bolts reaching for the ground, just explosions of brilliant light echoing like fire throughout the clouds. It was incredible. They were huge and they were even a bit terrifying.

I began thinking about how our perspective plays such an important role in the outcome of what we do. How some are able to go through intense difficulties and become stronger because of them, while others go through identical struggles and crumble under the pressure. How one person sees the challenge to overcome and the other is overcome by the challenge. I wondered how God’s perspective looks compared to ours. I imagined how different everything must appear, how prayer looks like incense rising up to God’s throne, how Jesus saw Satan fall like lightning from the sky as his disciples went out and did the things that Jesus himself had been doing.

I wondered how would our lives change if we could recognize the reality of heavenly things compared to the illusions of this world. How would things change if we had those eyes to see? I think the view would be incredible, huge and maybe even a bit terrifying.