Perspective by Barry Hughes

When I was a boy, we had a huge Mimosa tree in our front yard. I would climb high into its branches at the end of each day and watch for my daddy’s truck as it approached on his way home from work. I spent many a happy hour laying on my back in the cool grass and looking up into the spreading branches, watching the numerous Ruby-Throated Hummingbirds darting about. It was peaceful and beautiful. I can still recall vividly the smell of the grass and the pink of the tree blossoms and the calming touch of the breeze.

As I walked today, this memory came flooding back. I stopped right where I was and decided that I might need to once again experience that perspective on life. So, under the spreading branches of a good climbing tree, I turned my gaze upward. I was suddenly in tune with the smells and sounds around me. For a brief moment, I felt young again.

The power of perspective is strong. If we look for the bad in people, we can surely find it. If we look for excuses as to why we aren’t the people we should be, there is an endless supply. If we look at the world primarily as adversarial, we can find an endless number of reasons to be angry.

But the opposite is also true. Our perspective can lead us to discover how much good ordinary people pour into the world each day. We can leave our search for excuses and discover countless opportunities to become the person we long to be. We can choose to see our world as a gift and find ourselves with hearts that love. Perhaps it would serve us well to check our perspective from time to time.

Peace.