The whole picture

A recent trip to Utah had two great benefits. I was invited to talk about "Hey, God? Yes, Charles." and it was a wonderful opportunity to visit our baby daughter ❤️. Turned out there was an interesting side note to this trip as well. Charles and I had visited this area before and, one of those times, we made a special effort to see The Great Salt Lake. He pulled our rental car into the parking lot and we hopped out, walking expectantly to the edge of the water and... I wish I could spell out DISAPPOINTMENT in bigger letters for you. Here we've made a special effort to see the largest salt water lake in the Western Hemisphere. It's a remnant of a prehistoric lake for Pete's sake. And yet, we are standing at one end and, in our minds, all there is to see is dead, and ugly, and insecty. We did our best version of the quick Chevy Chase head shake and left. But now this time, on this trip, my flight path takes the airplane over the entire lake and my whole perspective is different. Instead of looking at a few disappointing feet of a lake that can cover 1700 square miles, I can see the whole thing. Is this the same lake? Seriously? The stark beauty, the unique biology, the contrast of lake and mountaintops, the sheer size - all play out below my eyes. What a difference it makes to look at the world from the top down. And I'm reminded of the tendency to forget that, while my view of anything is usually just a sliver, God has always got the whole picture.