Faith at 32,000 feet: why I’m learning to change my perspective

Writing this from 32,000 feet above earth has inspired me to think about how I’ve been looking at things from a different perspective. My husband, daughter and I are jetting off for a sunny holiday with friends and have already learned how families do things differently. 

Our friends packed their cases over a week ago. I zipped mine up just 20 minutes before we left after a quick rejig of my overweight case. I am inspired by them to be so organised in advance that they were able to sit and watch TV last night with snacks, while I frantically searched for goggles, checked the best before date on suncream and emptied the bins to avoid coming home to an ‘interesting smell’. 

Some of the things I’ve had to clear out are the remains of flowers I was given for my birthday at the beginning of April. I absolutely love a gorgeous bouquet that reminds me daily of the thoughtful giver bringing colour and fragrance into our otherwise neutral coloured home. But something struck me about them. The flower heads are the crowning glory, the part that gets the praise and the enjoyment but the stems are really where the magic happens.

As I fly, I think about God’s perspective of us on earth

Before I emptied the vase I peered at the bottom of the stems in the water, which I’d dutifully cut at an angle as advised by the florist and saw something different - I saw its source of life, the very thing that it grew from, was nourished and watered from and yet it humbly sat in water allowing the blossoms and blooms to get all the attention.

So I challenged myself to look at other familiar things from a different perspective, to find a new appreciation for them. We recently visited friends with a new baby girl and my daughter asked me if I was looking forward to baby cuddles. I thought about it and realised that what I’d missed about her when she was little were her teeny tiny toes so actually, as much as I wanted to meet the new baby, I really wanted to adore her little sweetcorn kernel shaped undertoes! Looking at them made me smile, not just at their cuteness but in wonder at where those toes are going to take her in the future.

Now, as we fly in a bit of heaven (I used to look for God on the clouds when I was younger on a flight!) and spot areas of land beneath us, I think about God’s perspective of us on earth. Does God just have a heavenly bird’s eye view of us or is it more of an integrated beside us, walking and talking with us in the every day?

I hope you, like me, know the answer to this. It’s both!

I just have to think back to the beginning, to Adam and Eve walking and talking in The Garden with God, as friends and without any shame or insecurity. I’d like to do more of that. This challenges my perspective on how I pray, not just to God (up in the heavenly clouds) but to my friend Jesus who set foot on earth, fully aware of what it’s like to be human, like me. I’m going to stay hydrated, be more intentional about where my feet take me and try to be a bit more organised on my walk with the Lord. Hopefully that will help me get a better perspective of things.