A Bigger Landscape

A Bigger Landscape

There is a small framed picture on my bookcase. It is a small print on a purple background,

featuring a breathtaking landscape, with fields and hills, a village below, and up on a hill, a medieval

castle. The caption reads, “there is a landscape bigger than the one you see.”

That picture and caption reminds me of a time when God taught me that lesson. I was in my

dorm room a few years ago, praying, trying to get the mind of God and really listen to what He had

to say. I was led to the window and God showed me how limited my perspective is. I only see the here

and now, just as I could only see the rooftops of buildings outside my dorm room window. He sees

the whole world in the blink of an eye, all of space and time. He knows my life from beginning to

end. His perspective is eternal, while mine is so limited.

Whenever I struggle with the direction my life is going, I only have to look at that little picture I

found at Goodwill to remember that God sees the bigger landscape. Life seems like a puzzle

sometimes. We only have a few pieces, and some of them don't seem to fit. Someday all the pieces will

fit together and I will see the bigger landscape. When I look at that picture, it reminds me of my

conversation with God, and gives me hope that all my needs will be met because I have a big God, a

God who sees far beyond my perspective, a God who is greater than I could ever imagine. A God who

sees beyond this life to the landscape that is flawless and beautiful beyond imagination; the place where

there will be no more worry or fear, because that landscape is the place he’s prepared for us; the place

he saw us in the moment we let him in our hearts. It’s the perfect place where we will be with him

forever, where our eyes of flesh will be made eyes of the spirit and we can finally see in awe and

wonder; what his eternal eyes already see; a landscape bigger and more beautiful than we could ever

imagine.