Perspective
Once upon a time I found myself standing in a redwood forest. A few miles away on one side of me was the booming metropolis of San Francisco, California. Less than a mile in the other direction was the roaring Pacific Ocean. But as I walked into that giant, ancient forest, a curtain of absolute silence descended. Not only did all outside sounds stop, it was as if time stopped.
On one side of me, an ocean churned its way between California and China, and on the other side of me the entire San Francisco Bay area teemed with over seven million people living out every great and terrible part of life all at the same time. But in that forest, there was absolute stillness. Even the rays of light that penetrated to the forest floor seemed to be asking respectful permission to enter.
This was like no place I have ever been before or since.
It didn't feel so much as if the forest was happening all around me, but rather like the forest had already happened, long ago, and I was being allowed to step back in time to see it.
As I stood there, surrounded by huge thousand-year-old trees, I was acutely aware that I will live my whole life and die, and in my entire lifetime, with all of its ups and downs and every other thing, this forest will barely even change.
That was an important moment for me, because my everyday life doesn't feel like that at all.
My everyday life feels like it is flying by all of the time, and like the best I can possibly do is to try and keep up. Oftentimes, in the midst of the rat race of life, I think I lose perspective on things. The most important things always seem to be getting lost under a pile of other things that feel more urgent, or at least more immediate.
But in that forest, I was reminded of the profound eternality of God. He always has been, He is right now, and He always will be. And like every other part of Him, His perspective on things is also eternal.
He does not get wrapped up in the busyness and distractions of life. Instead, in every moment, He is Himself and He is doing His thing in His timing.
That's frustrating for me sometimes because I get very wrapped up in my things and my timing. But I try to remember something that the Bible says about God in the Book of 2 Peter, Chapter 3 in the Bible.
“But do not forget this one thing, dear friends: With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day. The Lord is not slow in keeping his promise, as some understand slowness. Instead he is patient with you, not wanting anyone to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.”
Right now, in this moment--be it a boring moment, or a busy moment, or an empty moment, or a full moment--in this moment God is patiently working in His timing to do His thing. And one of the things that He is doing is patiently waiting on us to turn to Him.
I think I can make time for that. I hope you can, too.
