Human life can be overwhelming. Frederick Buechner once wrote: "Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don't be afraid." Perspective can help see those beautiful and terrible things, that human life, with bold courage, deep meaning, even enthusiasm.
Something like a sunrise painted by the stunning light of God, a view out a hospital window, the wonder of a child's gaze--these can remind a listening ear that all of our wonderfully and terribly overwhelming lives are held in the cup of God's loving hand.
There is a chair on the seventh floor lobby of UT Southwestern Medical Center where I love to sit. Although I'd prefer to gain perspective concerning a rather stubborn illness from a Colorado mountain pass, the contemplative view from my temporarily adopted chair gives me perspective.
Abbo's Alley hiking trail in Sewanee, Tennessee passes a pond which seems to invite a wonderful young friend to slow down, sit for a moment, and absorb the perspective of God's beautiful nature.
When human life is overwhelming, and it is for each of us sooner or later, perspective can help us see that in and out of all the beautiful and terrible things that make up human life we need not fear. For we can stare at a pond, look at a cityscape, enter the sanctuary where God paints the grandeur of His sunrise and pray, "The Lord is my Shepherd; I shall not want."
And if we listen carefully we can hear God's whisper of hope: "Fear not, for in all the beautiful and terrible things, I am walking right there with you, seeking always...always to love you into life."