Perspective is the lens through which we view truth. The easiest thing for us to forget when we are choosing our perspective is that we are a part of the whole. We are one human on a planet of billions. Privy to a unique culture in a world full of diversity. The uniqueness of our passions, ideas, and abilities is something to celebrate, but also something to keep us humble.

When you go to a professional baseball game, the field might look close from the seats. You can read the players numbers and see the twitch of the bat. It is all right there before you, the players and the field and the stadium spread out against the backdrop of the city, a setting sun painting the sky for good measure.

Like everyone else in the stadium, you brought your phone to take a picture. Looking at the result, you grimace. The field looks farther away in the picture than it does in real life. You can’t distinguish one player from another. The stadium wouldn’t fit in the lens and the painted sky was playing tricks with the lighting. 

Our perspective is like a view from the camera, taken through a lens comprised of experience and the influence of those around us. The fullness and beauty and clarity of the whole is just too grand to catch through the imperfect lens.

While choosing our perspective, we have to remind ourselves that we see part of the whole. When we see through our little camera and think we are viewing all that there is, we’re in big trouble. Recognizing we are viewing a part of the whole will keep us humble and allow us to better understand the parts we can currently see.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”
– 1 Corinthians 13:12