viewpoint

Flying at 34 thousand feet up in the air, above the planet, soaring across country at some odd-hundred miles per hour, life looks a whole lot different. It's nearly impossible for me to not draw comparisons between what I see up here and what I have seen before from a lower perspective...

I had been awakened in the wee hours of the morning, by thunder so powerful that it shook the home I was a guest in. It cracked like dynamite and rolled like a freight train for nearly four hours, accompanied by wickedly bright flashes of lightning that made my hair stand on end. As my departure time neared, the storm moved on and I was relieved. After a connecting flight to another airport, however, I realized that the storm had moved on – and was sitting directly over the spot we were about to land in. Touchdown was nerve-wracking, but our pilots pulled it off and huge sighs of relief came as the small plane pulled into the gate. On takeoff, (in a larger plane), we were once again pelted with giant raindrops, buffeted by high winds, and heard the thunder rumbling around us. It may have been Memorial Day Weekend, but Summer was nowhere in sight. Our turbulent ascent was a white-knuckle ride! Soon, we rose above the clouds, and the storm was a memory. The air friction subsided, and we glided along smoothly, surfing the air across the country. 

There is a cloud bank stretching across the land below me, covering dozens of states.

From my view out of the window of seat 14F, I see only a crystalline blue sky, brilliant sunshine, and a puffy white blanket of cumulous clouds that seems to invite a nice bounce. Below the puffed up beauty, though, those clouds cast shadows and drop rain onto the many cities and farms and roads on the surface.

'I into every life a little rain must fall' is a quote most of us have heard before, and we know it is true. But my mind wanders to think of rain storms that wreak havoc on the landscape and on lives, like the one we had just left behind. As I contemplate storms, I remember how my life recently felt like a torrential downpour with a side dish of thunder, lightning, and wind that just would not end. At some point, rain ceases to be a blessing and becomes a burden. The level of rain that can be handled without destruction changes in every landscape, and every life...

I sit and gaze out the window, enjoying the scene unfolding beneath us as we streak across the sky. Soon the cloud cover thins to allow a broken view of what lies below... I spy a peek at the Rocky Mountains as we fly over Colorado, then a widening scope of brown desert as the clouds dissipate.

The view out of my window finally reveals the awesome sight of the Grand Canyon, yawning wide and long in the waning sunshine, in the midst of the desolate wilderness that seems to go on for an eternity. Shadows accentuate the depth of the crevasse, and the Colorado River reflects the blue sky above like a Tiffany-blue ribbon swirling through hills of chocolate brown fabric. As the sun begins to dip lower in the West in front of us, everything shimmers gold.

Proof positive that a desolate wasteland holds such hidden treasures, if we are willing to get ourselves into a perspective that allows us to see them for what they are.This is true of a landscape, and sometimes, of a life.

That is my lesson right now: change your perspective. 

Get up off the floor, the bed, the chair, and find a new place to 'be' to view the true landscape of your life. Stand on the desk as if taking a page from teacher John Keating in 'Dead Poets Society', stand barefoot on the beach, or take a seat in a jet across country. Look around and see the world, yourself, others, and situations in a whole new light. See that above those ominous rainclouds and thunder, the sun still shines.... you may not be able to see it yet, but it's there just the same. Soon the clouds will dissipate and the sunbeams will reach you again. The golden light will illuminate everything around you, and you will see it as never before.

In my short two-week journey across the country to visit places I have never been, I have seen incredible beauty and heartbreaking desolation – both literally and figuratively. As it unfolded around me and then later spread out across the vast landscape beneath me, I allowed myself to experience the wonder of it all. As I stood beside my dearest friend at her father's graveside, both of us having weathered storms of incomprehensible magnitude in our lives at one time or another, I contemplated again the scope of human experience and what it is all about. And gave thanks that she and I were here for one another, yet again.

We have memories of yesterday, and a promise of tomorrow - but all we truly hold in our hands is today. We should accept the rain when it falls, the sun when it shines, the truth when it is revealed, and love when we can. We should do so because we are ALIVE - and it is a gift that we often overlook in the face of the troubling storms and parched wastelands of our lives. 

As Mr. Keating admonished his students, 'Carpe' Diem!' - Seize the Day. It is all we have, and our perspective on it can change the outcome remarkably...