All About Perspective

Have you ever revisited a place as an adult that you visited as a child?  Things are not quite the same as you remembered them.  As a child, everything seemed so big; but as an adult, everything is not quite as big as you remembered it to be.  It was all about your perspective! 

Recently, I turned thirty-eight.  I was not thinking of myself as being old.  My five-year-old daughter came to me and said, “Mom, you must be getting close to 101!”  To a five-year-old, thirty-eight seems light years away!  As a child, I remember thinking that forty was old.  Now that I am almost upon it, it does not seem old at all.

My daughter has been asking what certain words mean.  They have been very random words – compassion, concerned, survive, obstinate, servant, etc.  One day, she asked what “confused” meant.  I told her that it meant to be mixed up or to not understand something.  She said, “Oh, so it is not understanding technology!” I am not sure where that came from; she definitely had a different perspective!

Our children went back to school this week.  While they were on summer break, the children played outside a lot.  The other day, the boys were gathering sticks to make a fire.  I am not sure what it is about boys and fire. (I was scared to death of matches as a child.  Lighting a gas stove took some getting used to!  I actually had to practice lighting a match. It is still not my favorite thing to do; I love Aim-a-Flames!)  The boys are not allowed to light matches on their own, but they look for any reason they can find to be able to light a match.  Anyway, they came in the other day after they had been gathering sticks.  Gilbert told us, “That is hard work!”  Danny told us of his method for chopping sticks.  He said, “You chop on it for a little while; then, you sit on it to break it the rest of the way!”  I guess there is more than one way to break a stick!

At times, I find myself frowning upon another person’s perspective.  But, just as we are entitled to our own opinions, we all have our own perspective.  Looking at things through a child’s eyes will definitely change one’s perspective!

If you have a story that you would like to share with us, please e-mail it to me at lo@consfords.com. Please include the name of each family member, your field of service, and a picture of your family if possible.

Until next week, keep your sunny side up!