Distant perspective

Can you feel the shift? Today is the longest day of the year. I think the sun sets at almost 9pm here (Central Daylight time). But I'm not sure I'll know. I woke to a rainy sky before dawn and will wait and see if we see the sun this morning.
There is a difference in the light of various places. The light in Oklahoma is different than the light in Dhanauri India. Yes, it is the same sun but there is something about the air, the altitude, and other factors that makes it look different. One of the very clear days in India the sky was a beautiful blue dome with small puffy clouds. It seemed perfect. One night we watched a thunderstorm over the mountains, the foothills of the highest mountains in the world. We would rate the flashes and cheer. There were several that were absolutely outstanding. They flashed like fireworks that were thrown into the sky to zigzag across in front of us. From the distance where we observed we could see each arch and branch of the lightening and it was awesome.
But it took the distance to make it so amazing. I don't think in the midst of the storm you would have seen the pattern of the lightening but rather you would have seen the flashing and then the thunder without detail.

Distance gives perspective.

That is true for a lot of things it seems that distance gives perspective. I think we call that hind-sight when it has to do with something happened in the past. But now I'm referring to something that is present that comes together from a distance. Some times relationships and group dynamics are best understood when we step out of the situation for a moment. They can become even more precious and also more clear about what is happening in the midst of it all.
Sometimes this perspective or distance can be given to us by a friend who is not wrapped up in the situation. Someone who will listen and be honest with us about ourselves and the situation that involves us. That is a true friend. I am blessed with several and pray that I serve them in the same capacity.
Take a breath and look at your life closely and from a little distance and determine what God is calling you to do in this present time and place.
God abides
Bobbie Giltz McGarey
@2007

over the foothills
the mountains behind
the storm flashed and raged
and we
on the porch
sat watching and cheering
the lightening as it displayed

so beautiful the flashes
never repeated
some like a tree branched out and spread
and watching
we felt us expand in the flashing
and knew that God is so near

Yes God can be seen in the lightening the thunder
the rushing of water the blue in the sky
but also is present
in small silent moments
and the cry of a babe
or the song of a bird.