The Long and Short Perspective

A couple of, five-foot nothing, friends and I were talking the other day. We each have a man in our lives that is significantly taller than we are.  We laughed at the fact that he hardly notices that the refrigerator has any shelves beyond the top one.  We laughed at how, to him, there are no cabinets in the kitchen below the counter.  We laughed at ourselves because we don’t clean the top of the refrigerator or the range hood as often as we should simply because we forget that there is even a surface there at all.

I recalled a time when my miniature self and my, significantly taller, other were standing beside each other looking up a city street which had a slight incline.  He was pointing out something for me to peer at that was just beyond the hill’s crest. I couldn’t see what it was that he was talking about.  He continued to describe, in different ways, what he was visualizing thinking that it was my vision (not always the best even with my glasses on) that hindered my view.  Finally, he bent down and placed his head beside mine.  It was then that we determined that what he was attempting to show me was impossible for me to see because of my limited vantage point.  I simply couldn't view anything beyond the top of the small hill.

As I relayed that story to my friends, it occurred to me that all of us are limited as to how we view things. We can only see something from our vantage point.  Not only can our limitations be physical, but we may be limited by our maturity or level of life experience.  We could be limited by our level of knowledge about a certain subject.  Not being able to see something doesn’t mean that it’s not there.  Unless we change our vantage point, we're unable to see something as another person sees it (or at all).  I’m amazed at how often the possibility that there could be another view point doesn’t enter our minds at all.  Funny, we don’t take that into consideration.

Before I make a determination that what I see is all that there is, I'm going to stand on a few more “stools” in order to be certain that I'm educating myself on another person’s point of view. I may have to grant some additional patience, and respect, to the fact that someone may not yet be at my life experience, or spiritual relationship, level to comprehend my view.  I have to accept, as the Bible states, that some will have hardened hearts and never have the ability to see what I see.  But because I am not made privy to the souls that are permanently hardened, and will never have the ability to see, I'll continue to pray that some day they either stand on a stool or crouch down.  Better yet...let’s all be on our knees.  That's truly where we’ll have the same vantage point.