A family trip to London this week has proved an education. Not just for our children, though it was four years ago since our last visit to the capital. But for Karen and myself as well. Three days of being transported out of our provincial living into the tourist world of a world city. It is an eye opener and that for me who lived for a while in the heart of the capital as a student.

We encountered a change of perspective in a few special ways. A flight on the London Eye lifted us high above the sights and showed us how the famous landmarks weaved together amongst the mass of buildings, roads and green spaces. A trip to the National Gallery found us only three feet away from some of the most valuable paintings ever created. Walking room to room from Impressionist wonders to Renaissance Masters, passing between centuries of inspiration in a few hundred metres, made us gasp to see how art has been variously imagined and expressed.

Our long awaited trip to the Tower of London was perhaps the biggest perspective changer. Used to seeing inexpensive bling in every shop window, we had to shake our heads to take in the reality of the thousands of diamonds and precious stones encrusted on the gold crowns. At home in our 21st century culture and traditions, we were catapulted into a more dramatic medieval timeline of kings, wars, love and brutality, power and glory. 

A good sense of perspective is one of the greatest aids to navigating life as a whole and is one of the benefits of the Christian way of life. ‘I instruct you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths’ (Proverbs 4v11). God encourages us to live, not just for the moment but in the light of an everlasting kingdom. He calls us to live beyond our earthbound, walled in vision for a greater goal. The Eternal One longs that we may learn to appreciate the beauty and drama inherent in being human and express His loving life in a unique way in our generation.

Let us learn to see from a perspective higher than the bogged down circumstance, longer than the immediate crisis, wider than our blinkered experience. This is possible because of our friendship with God. He alone sees the end from the beginning, Only He can work out the plan of saving and redeeming His broken creation.  The world is not ‘same old, same old’, it is part of the great drama of life and we have a part to pray and play, unique in our generation.

‘Lord God, share with us Your divine perspective on our lives, our nation, our world. Lift us up, stretch us, challenge us with Your salvation plan which is greater than anything on this earth. Help us to live wisely and with clear vision through the coming years. Amen.’