Perspective

We can complain because rose bushes have thorns, or rejoice because thorn bushes have roses.
Abraham Lincoln

Yesterday I went to the art auction in our city’s Cathedral. I must go into this place at least once a week (for lunch), I have even hired the rooms for monthly meetings back in 2008, when our building was too small to all meet. I felt great about taking all the team to church each month, hoping the Big Guy would appreciate that I was at least trying to spread the Word, even if most of the team just thought it was just a cool place to meet. Yesterday when I went with my artistic friend Lady LM, I somehow saw it differently. I noticed lots of new and interesting things, I couldn’t believe I had never noticed them before and wondered why.

Overnight I have decided its about perspective as much as interest being different on the day. Yesterday I wasn’t in a hurry or busy chatting, I became interested in my surroundings, even though they were the same old (really old) place I am used to. I noticed the sign on the door of the main entrance, which was beautiful and said ” Push”, ( apparently Cathedral doors are always on the West side – this blog is not just my ramblings it can be educational too – well sort of). To me the sign seemed bigger than before, actually I am not even sure I had noticed it before. But yesterday it seemed loud and clear, and somehow instructional to me personally. As my life is currently changing, and I am both sad and unsettled at the moment, ‘pushing’ through is all I think I can do.

And maybe my whole view of the Cathedral was due to a change in my own perspective. I think perspective is one of the most important things in life. My current situation means that I really hurt a friend. Which I hate, the only one regret in my life is those times when I have hurt people with my actions or lack of them. My friend retaliated and hurt me back which is how we humans react, hurt people – hurt people. All of this due to our perspectives of the situation not being the same, even if we had wanted it to be – we can’t change who we are. CS Lewis said “For what you see and hear depends a good deal on where you are standing: it also depends on what sort of person you are”, we are just standing in different places.

But was hurting each other really necessary if it is just a different perspective? I am not sure, maybe because things are important to us and they carry a lot of strong feelings, love, anger, hate etc. But even strong feeling don’t always change perspectives or people.

My last photo of the day was of a man sat quietly giving thanks to God for his day, asking for forgiveness for whatever he had done himself. While I didn’t sit alongside him, my friend and I have asked for each other’s forgiveness on what we have done and I have asked God for His forgiveness too, I can only be sure of forgiveness from one of them…as in the end it’s all about perspective…