Perspective

A good friend sent me this picture yesterday...her grandson, in a staredown with the family's Great Dane. It's an adorable picture, of an adorable baby (and dog)...but someone pointed out to me that it is also a terrific visual metaphor for perspective.

Those things that loom large in our vision are sometimes a relatively small part of the bigger picture...but when you're a baby looking into the face of a Great Dane, it's easy to loose perspective.

Still, as River (the baby's name) demonstrates, we can stare down the things that intimidate us...and ultimately, win the larger battle. We don't have to back down and cower in the face of circumstances that overwhelm us...but it's tempting to do just that...at least for me.

The lesson of perspective is that someday, in the not too distant future, the perspective for River the baby, and Oliver the Great Dane, will be reversed...and River will have the upper hand. Sometimes it's good to know that things do not always stay the same, and that perspective is a moving target. What seems large today will seem small in the rearview mirror...