Perspective

Paul and I are spending a few days of rest and relaxation at Orange Beach this week, breathing in the crisp and clean gulf air, shuffling our feet through the sand, counting the Dolphins frolicking just offshore and gorging ourselves on fresh gulf seafood.  Cooking has not been a priority this week.  We have a number of favorite "haunts" along this stretch of beach, so our goal has been to eat an early, light breakfast each day that will afford us the opportunity to be HUNGRY in time for a not-too-late lunch so we can squeeze in a third meal for dinner and digest it all in time to get a good night's sleep.  In general, this is the way we travel.  It would be a pity to manage our time so as to eat only twice a day.  This puts a bit of a burden on me, because an early riser I am not.  I so love to eke out those last lovely minutes, or hours, as the sun rises higher into the sky, having become so completely one with my bed it becomes burdensome to extricate myself. But I make the sacrifice for a greater cause (again, three square meals) and roll myself out of bed in time to accomplish our culinary goals.

Cereal and fruit are our friends!  A light but filling breakfast guaranteed to wear off in about three hours without fail.  Obviously there will be no recipe forthcoming in this post, but I do have a secret I have learned about cereal.  I share this "secret" freely with anyone who will listen, those who are tired of hearing and the one who as recently as this morning arched his eyebrows tolerantly and somewhat fondly as I again demonstrated my technique.  I admit my attempts to proselytize have been largely unsuccessful in my small realm of influence.  Quite truthfully, they have been completely 100% unsuccessful.  I cannot brag here about one single convert I have made, in spite of diligent effort.  But perhaps some of you who find your way to this blog from time to time may change all that.  Perhaps you, reading right this minute, may be the first to hear this suggestion and realize the obvious wisdom it holds to rectify a serious issue you have been navigating for years.  Do not all of us who are crunchy morning eaters encounter the dilemma of soggy cereal?  How disappointing it is to pull out your customary bowl, open a fresh box of your fiber-filled favorite, pour it into the bowl and cover with milk only to find within minutes it is too soggy to enjoy.  Wouldn't your mornings, ergo your whole day, be happier if you could alleviate this minor "gnat bite?"

Here is the fix, guaranteed to work every time.  Put the milk in the bowl FIRST and then shake your cereal gently over the milk so that it mostly floats on top.  Then dip your spoon in from the side so as to submerge the cereal as you go.  Voila!  Soggy cereal eliminated!  Morning bliss accomplished.  Life is good!

Ah, it is as if I can see right through my computer into the faces of my readers. You are rolling your eyes a bit, perhaps tolerantly, perhaps fondly. But if only you would try it. If only you could see from my perspective how entirely practical this suggestion is, and I am nothing if not practical.

Perspective.  How it can vary from day to day, situation to situation, person to person.  I know from time to time mine needs tweaking.  As much as I would protest and claim otherwise, I am often in great danger of believing I am the axis upon which the world revolves.  I would never articulate this as my worldview nor rationally profess it to be true.  But my actions (sometimes) bely my protestations!  Here in this place, close to the pounding surf whose persistent tune can drown out the usual theme songs I play, I am able to reclaim an important reality.  God is still present, still in control and ever so much Greater and Other and Able.  My need to orchestrate and control is a figment of my imagination, fueled by pop psychology and my own insecurities.  God's wisdom gives structure and boundaries and a "grid" for living.  But within those outer limits are so many possibilities, limited only by my narrowed vision.  In this place, looking out into that which seems infinite, my peripheral vision expands in a way that is freeing to me and I believe pleasing to God.

It is that God-expanded vision I will take back with me into the everyday.  I am grateful for time away, the beauty of creation, and the ability God gives to re-orient ourselves around Him when we have become mired in the familiar.  I take with me this reminder: the breath of God is a life-giving force hovering in and over and around, never farther away than a whisper, always as close as a prayer.