Good morning lovelies,
What is perspective? Have you thought about it?
According to Dictionary.com, perspective is: "the state of one's ideas, the facts known to one, etc., in having a meaningful interrelationship." Alright, there are two words in that definition I'd like to look at: the words one and meaningful.
The word one, here, is referring to one person. This makes the word "perspective" a personal word. Perspective is unique to you and it's unique to me. Your perspective will not ever be the same as another person's perspective. You can agree with another person on a general perspective (for example, you and your best friend both believe very strongly that a best friend should be given the right to eat the food in your fridge), but your individual perspectives as to why that's appropriate won't ever be exactly the same. Why is that?
You, as a person, are a collection of the experiences you've had. Your beliefs, disbeliefs, fears, hopes and quirks all stem from the life you have lived up to this point right now. The next word is meaningful, which literally means full of meaning. Whether intentional or not, you have created meaning for everything that has happened to you. We very rarely accept, "It just happened," as an answer. And even when that is our answer, that's the meaning we have created for the event. When we make memories or learn, we have to put meaning behind words, actions, images or feelings. This is just how life works; it's not a bad thing! You have to make meaning with things to understand them.
Your perspective is personal and it's formed by what you've created meaning with. So why on Earth am I telling you this?
When we study God's word, we don't have the full story. We don't have God's full perspective. Please don't misunderstand me; the Bible is God's word and it is perfect in its own right. However, we don't have all of the details. Ecclesiastes tells us, "..I saw all the work of God, that man cannot find out the work that is done under the sun. However much man may toil in seeking, he will not find it out" (Ecclesiastes 9:17). I can guarantee that we would not fully understand if the entirety of God's perspective were written out. To write out the entire history of what God has done, how and why he did it or what exactly he thinks about different things we would probably need every single piece of paper that ever has been or will be made. That still wouldn't be enough! And then we have the problem that written words can not express everything. All they can do is try to explain in ways we humans can understand.
So while what we do have is perfect, it simply is not the entire story. And what we do have is a big collection of words. If each person has created different meanings for words, our understandings of the same words will be different. You may have seen this illustration before but stick with me.
Cat.
When you read the word "cat," you may think of your pet cat. Suzy may think of the little tiger cub she saw at the zoo, but Bobby would think of the mother tiger he saw while at the zoo with Suzy. I could think of myself because people call me "Kat," or Jack could think of the angry cat meme he sees all over the internet.
Do you understand my point? No matter how general or specific the word is, we have all created different meanings for every word. Sure there are specific definitions. But that does not remove the fact we have different meanings. This is not a matter of right and wrong. This is a matter of us each being given different life experiences.
When we get into disagreements and debates with people, it becomes easy to state a fact and expect that other person is going to automatically agree with us because we've given them fact. But if perspective is built on individual meaning, the conclusion that fact leads you to may not be the same conclusion the other person is lead to. We must remember when we talk to people that things are not as simple as a word on a page. It is possible (and, I believe, necessary) to understand someone's perspective, to examine what they're saying from an unbiased standpoint, and still disagree. Perspective can be changed; but first, the perspective has to be understood. I have to know what my perspective is before I can change the way I see a situation; I also have to know what Suzy's perspective is before I can show her the bigger picture.
I pray that I remember my brother is a different person whenever I must approach him about something we disagree on. I pray I learn to seek my sister's perspective so I know how to respectfully guide her to a better relationship with God. I pray my perspective always reflects the way God's perspective might. Lastly, I pray we all start working on our hearts so that we grow in the likeness of our Savior each and every day.
I love you dear sisters,
Kat
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