Friday, May 13, 2011

Perspective

What comes to mind when you think of perspective? The dictionary defines perspective as: 

  • the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship; 
  • the faculty of seeing all the relevant data in a meaningful relationship; and, 
  • a mental view or prospect.
Our perspective can change from year to year, month to month, or day to day.  What we once thought was our perspective about an issue can change as we experience life. 


But enough about all that vague and random chatter about perspective.  I've been thinking a lot over the past 2 months.  I've been thinking about what's most important in my life and what means the most to me.  I've been thinking about all of the "what if's" and "why nots" and other really scary things because friends and family and complete strangers have experienced completely life altering events.  


I've laid awake at night, many times just thinking.  Sometimes admitting how we feel is the most difficult step because it makes us vulnerable.  It leaves us open and unguarded.  But if I can't be honest with myself first, then I can't begin to be honest with the people who mean the most to me, right?  And, I've realized this more-so recently because seemingly healthy people are being diagnosed with terminal cancer - their lives are going to end sooner rather than later and they are YOUNG!! They have kids who need them, they have spouses who love and depend upon them.  I've seen seemingly healthy people (in their 30's) drop dead or killed in accidents.  What was the last thing they said to their loved ones?  Did they get the chance to tell their wives they loved them before heading out for the day?  When was the last time they made time to just be together and listen to one another's hopes, dreams, fears, hesitations, excitements?  There are so many things I'm sure those families hoped to accomplish and experience together, and now they won't have that opportunity.  


Perspective.  Life is short.  Times are difficult.  Trust doesn't come easy but can be broken in an instant and take months, sometimes years to be earned again.  Faith is different for every single person and a journey that is always evolving.  Happiness looks different to me than it does to you.  Sometimes life gets confusing - you have to just stop asking questions and start going with the flow.  Say the difficult things to those you love, especially if you want to move forward with them in some way.  Believe in hope and forgiveness, none of us are perfect.  Find beauty in awkward places.  Embrace - Speak - Listen - Love - Laugh.  


In an instant, it can all be gone.  Life can look black where it once looked white.  


Perspective.  How as your perspective changed recently?  

5 comments:

  1. I almost forgot...

    Someone at work mentioned to me the other evening as we were talking about how shocking recent news of our friend's battle with cancer was going. I told her that Ben and I just sat and looked at one another after hearing the most recent news, wondering what we "could do." My friend said (paraphrasing), "You gotta fix things, that's what you've got to do. Cause you guys just never know. You two need to make it right."

    She was right. And, it was, perhaps, in that moment that my perspective shifted again just a little bit.

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  2. I've been feeling that way lately, too. One of my good friends, who is a seemingly healthy 40-something year old, just found out she had suffered a minor heart attack. Wow! How life-changing for her.

    I talk with patients at work whose lives have been flipped upside down and it def makes you think twice about life. Life is a present from God, so we must live in the present and make every second count. Life's too short my friend!

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  3. Life is fragile and you never know when your time is "up."

    I had a migraine, called Ayron to talk to him only to be told that our sister in law had been T-boned by a semi and she had massive brain trauma and they wouldn't tell us if she was alive or dead because they didn't know. Come to find out, the exact moment my migraine struck me was when the semi struck her driver's side door. The semi was going 55mph and she was at a dead stop. She saw he wasn't paying attention and even pulled off the road and was sitting in someone's driveway. The semi crossed 2 lanes of traffic and someones front yard before slamming into her driver's side door. We were lucky, she has since fully recoverd (not without some struggles mind you) from injuries the doctors say should have killed her instantly. They keep telling us, "We don't know why she is alive, but she is." She fractured her neck in places that should have immediately brought on death, but now we can't even see hints of those fractures in x-rays.

    To this day I can tell when her injuries cause her pain, because I feel the same pain. Please don't think I am weird. I think God does this because it reminds me that time is short and we need to take advantage of the moments we are given because you never know when a careless semi driver, or cancer, or whatever else could (almost) take it away.

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  5. Wow, thanks for this great post, now I know what is perspective. thanks for sharing with us!


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