Looking From Above

I recently moved into the office at the church where I am now pastoring in Queens, NY. The office is five stories up (although it’s on the 4^th floor). And, although it’s not the highest I’ve ever been in a building, it is the first time I’ve ever worked in an office that is not at ground level. Thus, from my window I have a different kind of view. Instead of looking straight out the window at my surroundings, I am now looking down on them.

Of course, some of you may be used to working a few stories up or even higher. Some of you might even work in a high rise building or skyscraper. And, I’m sure that most of us have been up the Empire State Building or the former World Trade Center buildings or other buildings like them. We all know that, the higher up one is, the smaller the people, cars, and buildings below appear. When looking from above, one can’t help but have a different perspective on their surroundings.  Those things that seem so large from the ground, appear so much smaller from above.

In the same way, when we look at life from ground level, many things can seem intimidating and become so frustrating. That’s why the writer of Ecclesiastes, when writing from ground level wrote, “Meaningless! Meaningless…What does man gain from all his labor at which he toils under the sun?” (Ecclesiastes 1:2-3 – NIV) But, when writing from a higher perspective—what  I like to call a “God’s-eye” view of life—he wrote, “He (God) has made everything beautiful in its time.” (Ecclesiastes 3:11-NIV). What a different point of view!

I want to encourage us to see life from God’s perspective.  When we do, many of the same things that seem to loom so large become small. The difficulties of life that once appeared so big become but mere pieces of thread in the tapestry that God is weaving. When we view life from a higher perspective, what once appeared meaningless and frustrating, now becomes part of God’s plan of beauty!

Ask God to help you see your life from his perspective, for when you’re looking from above you’ll see that truly God is making “all things beautiful in its time!”

Have a great day!

-Pastor Tim Harris