Have you ever had one of those mornings where you could be classified as having woken up on the wrong side of the bed? I kind of felt like that this morning. I was incredibly overwhelmed with some things I was struggling with. So, I went about the morning wearing it on my sleeve.
I gathered my things and started driving to work. It didn’t take long before my bad attitude transferred from my sleeve to the steering wheel of my car. I worried that people on the road were going to notice me driving erratically. I was frustrated by somebody in front of me and frustrated by somebody behind me, so I took a back road. I knew that I needed to calm down and get my mind in check.
I decided to drive over Traverse Mountain between Utah County and Salt Lake County hoping the scenic drive would be calming. As I was driving up the mountain above Alpine and Highland, for a brief moment the valley below caught my eye. As I continued to drive I thought of how small everything looked in the valley. I thought of the tiny houses, cars, and people. As I thought of the people, I thought about how tiny their problems look from a distance and up high.
I thought about God. It’s amazing that there could be so many problems in that valley. From up high those problems were as small as a grain of sand almost invisible to the eye. I know there are problems. I have my own. I know a lot of people who live around me have problems. If that is the case, the valley is probably filled with problems of every shape and size. As tiny and invisible as they look from up high, God sees and knows every one of them.
Think of the problems there must be. There have to be broken and lonely hearts. There is abuse in all its forms. Addiction. Husbands and wives betrayed by each other leaving broken homes and broken children. Hate, bullying, depression, illness, and injury. There are surely a million reasons why a heart may ache, why a soul is broken, and a spirit is wounded. Yet, there’s a God in heaven that feels every one of those wounds.
I continued to drive over the mountain as I thought. I couldn’t see Utah Valley any longer as it was behind me. But I knew I would have an equally amazing view of the Salt Lake Valley once I crested the mountain. It was beautiful and full of life.
As I started down the other side my perspective was changing, but I didn’t feel the complete relief that I had hoped to have felt. On the other side of the hill was the Draper Temple. I thought, maybe I’ll drive over to the Temple and I’ll sit in the back of the parking lot for a few minutes. Maybe the peaceful spirit of the temple grounds will calm my soul.
I drove around to the back of the parking lot by the church, parked, and reclined my seat. As I lay there, I prayed for a few minutes. Reclining my car seat gave my body and mind a chance to relax and calm down. I tried to have an open heart and mind about my trials. I prayed my heart would be softened. I felt the spirit encourage me to seek opportunities to serve others. There is some perspective.
It’s kind of funny because, on my way to work, I didn’t feel like even being on the same road as other people. Now I’m being asked to go and draw close to other people by providing service. In my heart, at the same time, I knew if I stopped thinking about myself and started thinking about others, it would give my heart a chance to be healed. Sometimes life is all about perspective. Sometimes it’s about the big things being small and about the power of God being able to heal the big things as though they were small.
I saw a picture yesterday online where there was a cylinder shape on its side. Two lights were shining on different sides of the cylinder. The shadows they cast on the walls were different shapes. The light shining towards the circle end cast a circle shadow on the wall behind it. The light shining toward the cylinder side cast a square or rectangular shadow on the wall behind it. Next to each shadow was the word truth. As I thought about it after having seen the picture, it was a very good illustration of how multiple perspectives can be true.
As I have gotten older, and I hope wiser, I have seen more and more how perspective can have multiple truths depending on the angle in which you are viewing it. I can see one angle of truth while someone else may see a side I was unaware existed. Although I don’t always see and understand both perspectives, I know that God does. I know that if I’m humble enough to follow God’s council and seek to serve others, even if I don’t come to know both perspectives of truth, I can be comforted in knowing that He knows and understands.
