I used to teach in a middle school. Every day, as I walked down the science hall, I encountered the power of perspective. Hanging on the wall, images from Charles and Ray Eames’ 1977 “Powers of 10” revealed magnificent mathematical and scientific principles.

The central picture was one of a man on a picnic blanket, but each subsequent picture provided a look at the same picture through a different level of zoom. (The pictures above come from a screenshot from this blog and resemble the ones that hung on the wall. )

As you can see, the image at 1 meter perspective shows the man on the blanket. Zoomed out to 10 million meters, we can see earth. Zoomed in to 1 micron, we see the way that his hand is made up of microscopic parts. They’re all the same picture, just from a different perspective.

I think a lot about these pictures.

They remind me about the power of my perspective.

Sometimes when I’m going about my day, when I’m going to fast, all the small things can seem very very big. But if I could help myself zoom out, I’d see that, really, like the microscopic parts of the man’s hand, my immediate problems are only a small part of a bigger picture. Necessary to address? Of course. But the only important element? No.

Most of the time, I’m the kind of person who needs to zoom out. I need to get perspective that I’m not the center of the universe. Most days it would behoove me to start off thinking about my place in the 100,000 million meter zoom level before I make any decisions.

Some people are the kind of people that need to zoom in. They need to remember the details. Some forget that the small things are just as integral to the picture of our lives as the big things. Our tone, our timing, our expressions – these miniature moments comprise our lives and our impact on others. They are the parts that make up our whole picture.

How To Shift Perspective

One thing that helps me choose the right level of zoom at any given moment out is thinking about my purpose is as a Christian. (Now, for those of you who are not of that faith tradition, please keep reading and consider this example in light of how it might apply in your life. Christians and non-Christians alike can apply the following principles by using your own purpose as a frame.)

As a Christian, I believe my purpose is to love God and love others. In whatever I do, I am created to honor and enjoy God and his Kingdom. And I am made, ultimately, to help him make earth a little more like heaven in whatever ways I can. I’m a kingdom builder.

Now this is a very specific perspective. For other readers, you might want to stop here and consider your perspective on your life. Through what frame are you looking at each day? How do you consider your purpose?

This way of framing my purpose helps me maintain a proper perspective and see my life’s picture in the most clear way.

If I zoom way too far out, I can start to think that I’m not important, that I’m insignificant, and that nothing I do that even matters. Sometimes I can feel like nobody would want to hear what I have to say or I should be ashamed thinking that I matter at all. That’s when I have zoomed so far out not even the earth is visible. I’ve lost my perspective.

But when I re-frame my perspective on my life and my work by considering it in light of my efforts toward building God’s kingdom, I start to see more clearly. Perhaps nothing I do is going to have cosmic impact. But, God has been nudging me the last few years to write, and so I write. He’s put a nudge on my heart to try to help parents, and so I try. Sure, I’m going to be embarrassed sometimes. My pride will be hurt. (That might be a good thing, honestly.) But I also won’t have failed because I’m ultimately trying to love God and love others, and simply by attempting, all my other work success or failure is put in it’s proper perspective. My work is at the earthly level, not the cosmic one.

Sometimes, and more often I’m afraid to say, I zoom too far in. This is why I can get so irritable with myself and my children. Yes, of course it matters that we’re five minutes late to school. But it doesn’t matter so much that I should use a frustrated tone with my children who are so slow getting out the door. Yes, it matters that my dog chewed up our rug. But honestly, none of that stuff is worth really stressing over. I can’t see the other people in my life properly when I’m so far concerned with every smallest detail.

Taking the kingdom perspective helps me keep my cool. Because it’s not about whether we’re late or whether our rug looks nice. It’s about how I am honoring God in the way I respond. And when I don’t do that well, I can rest in the grace and freedom of apology and humility which are built into loving God and loving others well. I’m better off leaving the microscopic stuff to my creator.

So I encourage you to think about your perspective. Maybe you need to zoom out, maybe you need to zoom in. Or maybe, just maybe, you need to pick up God’s frame and see the beautiful picture he is creating with your life.