A World with a View, A Bigger View

The following is an excerpt, updated, from my book, Soul Storm: finding God amidst disaster. Essentially, it is a call to view life with a new, more hopeful lens. As Christmas approaches, as the season kicks in, and as the spectacle of the holiday reaches a crescendo, many who are struggling have their anxiety and sadness deepened. The gap between the kind of life we hoped for and the reality of our existence leaves many of us deeply disappointed. Yet, just as Mary and Joseph were turned away from every inn and place of lodging to give birth to Jesus, this life which began in an odor-filled, dirty cave outside of the comforts afforded to others turned out to be the life which offered ultimate comfort and rest to all who would embrace Him. What looked like a less than impressive beginning, in the end, turned out to be the grandest life ever lived. The picture is always bigger than what is in front of us at any given moment. In the grand scheme of things, viewed in the context of His plan, a much bigger life opens up to us. Read on, take a look.

A Bigger View

For those living along the Gulf Coast in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, and amidst the rubble and devastation we have seen on television nearly everyday for the last two years, it is easy to have our view of life reduced to something less than we would hope for. Those too familiar with tragedy and grief oftentimes lose passion for life and give up on dreams. Driving through the Lakeview area of New Orleans (one of the sections of town drowned by Katrina) in the weeks following the storm, I had an eye-opening experience. Everywhere I drove, as far as I could see, was nothing but gray rubble. Every house had a water line nearly up to the roof, every yard was covered with stacks of molded and ruined furniture, every street was littered with mud-caked cars and trucks, and refrigerators lined the streets.

After driving through the area, where I once lived, I began to have respiratory problems and headaches. Just one hour spent in what once was a thriving, beautiful part of town left me sad and depressed. “How could anyone view life with optimism?” amidst this kind of drastic situation, I thought. After I rode through Lakeview to get a sense of the challenges lying ahead for so many, I drove out to the Lakefront area where the Yacht Club used formerly stood. It was a staggering sight. On the property that was once a playground for the city’s rich was nothing but piles of useless and damaged “toys.”

Every yacht and sailboat that was there prior to the hurricane was then part of a large pile of debris. Boats were smashed upon one another, yachts were strewn everywhere, and the once brightly colored sails that made the area picturesque were gone or shredded. As I walked through the maze of broken dreams, I came upon one large sailboat, ironically named “Stuff.” How quickly our stuff can be gone, I was reminded.

Making my way from the Lakefront I came upon a very large puddle of standing water and had to slow down. As I was slowing, I noticed what at first appeared to be a bunch of dirty birds playing in the water. They looked like everything else in the area, battered and gray. But as I got closer I noticed a marvelous thing. Amidst the calamity, mess, and misery, playing in the water in the bright sunshine was a flock of parrots! It was the first color I had seen all morning. Bright greens, yellows, and oranges were splashing in the water and enjoying the day.

The juxtaposition of these amazing creatures in that setting was profound. My senses came alive, and I had a thought. No matter how bleak it looks around us, regardless of storms endured, there are still signs of life, beauty and hope. Then I was reminded of God’s care for even the birds of the earth, and the scriptures promise that He cares so much more for us as humans, the crown of His creation. Even in the worst of circumstances there are glimpse of the divine at work.

Often, I have taken educational detours to branch out into new fields for a period of time. Brain research is one area into which I detoured for a short period while in graduate school. Understanding how the mind works and the phenomenal complexities with which God has created us is fascinating. At times we have all heard about the different hemispheres of the brain, the left brain/right brain functionality, and the various theories regarding why one person is a math wiz and another more philosophical. It is intriguing stuff.

Some time ago, I viewed a program on television that utterly captivated me. It was a look into the world of a unique and very small population of people who are both severely mentally impaired and extraordinarily musically gifted. These savants, and the implications for study in the field of brain research, are astonishing.

One of the young men featured on the program, Rex, was blind and mentally retarded, yet astoundingly gifted musically. Talking with Rex is very difficult, and his mind is seemingly hampered in every way. But at the piano, the whole world changes for this kid. Rex is a musical genius. Listening to him play, while looking at him, with his mental and physical challenges very apparent, you cannot help but be joyfully confused.

How is it that someone so “messed up,” by most people’s assumptions, could at the same time be so brilliant? Listening to him play and recognizing that something marvelous is going on inside his brain convinces me that those who would support the right to abort such a “problem” have missed out on the glorious mysteries of God’s creation. The suggestion that physical and mental disaster discovered in the womb prior to birth should allow for the termination of life has, perhaps, robbed the world of many amazing gifts and contributions to society. Likewise, the termination of a passion for life amidst the disabilities life brings our way robs us of the potential brilliance that lies ahead. We must learn to look for the divine spark, that flicker of beauty that still radiates in the darkness around us.

Our definition of life is inadequate when we view it from a human perspective. Moreover, our assumptions as to “quality of life” are far too narrow. I wonder if, in reality, Rex knows the splendid graces of our creator more than we who are “normal.” Does this “disabled” savant have access to the operation of faculties more in tune with what God created us for despite the obvious hindrances we see? It is a question worth pondering. Is life worth living even when it looks terribly messed up? Should we joyfully fight rather than give in to depression, anxiety, and bitterness? The answers are obvious I think.

Another of the savants featured on the program was referred to as the “human Ipod.” Derek was a living testimony of the dignity that coexists with disaster. More severely mentally disabled than Rex, Derek is also a musical genius. At the piano, his mind worked magic. To the onlooker, it would seem that the entire world is closed off to him. In reality, a world more spectacular than most any of us have ever envisioned lived within him. Derek could not only play the piano, but he could play any and every song he had ever heard in his entire life, note for note!

The great compositions of the classical masters could be played without a moment of preparation, and splendidly. Derek could not only recall the classical masters, but he could also play anything from any era or genre up to today. More than that, he could be asked to play a contemporary rock song as if a classical master had composed it, and pull it off! The divine spark, the grand design, the bigger view is apparent when we sit before such things.

Our view is so small, our passion so easily quenched, our hope so easily dashed. Though the magnitude of pain, destruction, and disability piles up around us every day, in the midst of this, the parrots are still at play, the genius is still at work, and the hand of the divine One is still involved. Savants like Derek and Rex remind us that as complex and, at times, as indiscernible as life can be, God is at work. He has worlds awaiting us we could never have dreamed of.

Corrie Ten Boom, whose story has been told all across the globe, found a glimpse of God even amidst the horror of the German concentration camps. Captured and sent to slave in the death camps by the German forces for housing Jews during the Holocaust, Corrie found God despite the pain and suffering around her. Seeing members of her own family dying at the hands of these cruel forces did not keep her from finding the will to continue pursuing a better way.

Eventually, after enduring much hardship and fighting the good fight, Corrie Ten Boom made it out and went on to tell the world of the horrors imposed by the Germans, and more importantly tell the world of the hope to be found in God not matter the depth of despair. The essence of Corrie’s testimony has been her view of a big God. Her view of a God that is bigger than the challenges of this life gave her strength from day to day when others around her had turned to hatred, bitterness, and deep sadness. Her big view of God eventually brought her out of the camps, keeping her from death, miraculously, and led her on to tour the world telling thousands of the power, passion and hope found in Christ.

Corrie Ten Boom, like those parrots at play in the puddles of destruction, was the light of God during one of the darkest moments in world history. Every dark night of the soul can be illuminated by the light of God if we will remove the dark glasses with which we are accustomed to seeing life and exchange our viewpoint for a much larger one. The view from above sees past the loss and the obstacles and keeps the end goal in the cross-hairs. As big as the mess may appear, down the road is better place. We must learn to fight our way through to that destination.

Hoping and praying for you to have a grand view of the season and of your life,

Bruce Smith

optimuslife.org

This entry was posted on 29. November 2007 at 09:30 and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response or trackback from your own site.