Perspective

Sometimes it helps to get a different perspective on things. Go someplace different. Look at things from a different angle. Sit in a different chair. Stand on the chair. Whatever. Sometimes its quite necessary. So this morning I'm sitting at Caribou Coffee with a cup of my favorite - just getting a different perspetive.

Taking the time to garner another perspective is not natural for me. I'm more the "bull in a china shop" type. (Sharon's very vivid description of me.) But I'm learning. I think the Lord is teaching me. New perspective is a good thing, whether you preach, or write, or dig ditches, or stay home raising children.

Sometimes we get so locked-in that we have no perspective. That was the culture of Israel at the time of Christ. That's why the pharisees were so vehemently opposed to Jesus. He came with a fresh perspective. Different. Radical. Upsetting to the norm. And it infuriated them. How could anyone dare to question their ways? They very systematically observed the law. They religiously kept both Torah and the oral traditions. They were grudgingly admired by the people. But Jesus came along and contested it all. He didn't come with a different law, or with new traditions. Just a fresh perspective. It was more than they could stand.

Too bad they didn't have Caribou in Jerusalem.