A Little Perspective

Nathan Stam
Children/Communications Pastor

Over the past few weeks we've noticed that Tobin, our six month old, has really started to notice what's going on around him, not just in his immediate surroundings, but also in other rooms. It's always entertaining to look into a baby's eyes and wonder what they're thinking and what they're seeing. Recently, I did a little bit of reading on developmental milestones for babies and came across a few interesting tidbits that I wanted to share using Tobin as a case study.

As a newborn, Tobin's eyes were physically capable of seeing at birth, his brain just wasn't able to process all of that visual information. Consequently, things were pretty fuzzy outside of 8 to 15 inches. He could detect movement, light and shapes past that distance, but that was about it. As his brain has developed, however, so has his ability to see. When he was one month old he started to be able to consistently focus both of his eyes. At two months old, he began to distinguish between colors. When Tobin was four months old he supposedly started to develop some depth perception (I'm not sure about this one since our middle child at three years old still has no depth perception, but this could be a genetic trait passed down from his mother's side of the family). And now, at six months old, Tobin has begun to understand object permanence, which I can believe since he now loves to play peekaboo with me.

Both Tobin's perspective on life and his awareness have changed! As I was thinking about perspective it reminded me of an example that Philip Yancey once shared in his book, "Reaching for the Invisible God." The following is a rough paraphrase:

Our spiritual life is often like hiking through the mountains. When we start out on the trail head we have an idea of where we're going (following the trail), but we're surrounded by trees and ridges and can't see much of anything. As we walk, we'll occasionally come across a stream or find a view of a mountain lake, but still we can generally only see what is right in front of us. Eventually, the trees will begin to thin out and the way will become more and more rocky, as we begin to make out giant boulders and cliff faces that we couldn't see when we started. And then comes the moment when we come above the tree line and make our way, finally, to the peak of the mountain. All of a sudden our perspective changes. We see what was around us all along. The forests and the distant mountains, the rise and fall of the land, it's all laid out before our eyes like a beautiful tapestry.

It seems like our walk with God is a lot like a baby developing the ability to see or someone walking up a mountain trail. It's a dynamic process. Though we can't make out much at first, we gradually begin to be able to see more and more; we start to care about the things God cares about and to love the things that God loves. And then comes that day of all days when the curtain is lifted and we no longer see as in a mirror dimly, but see face to face. For now we know in part, but then we will know fully, just as we are fully known.