Contrast gives our perspective scale. Something can only be described as greater if there exists a point of comparison. Good is so much greater than bad when we understand bad before we are presented with good. Beauty is amplified in the presence of ugliness. A bright light is so much more vivid if alone in the darkness. When our perspective is given scale, we are able to perceive magnitude. This becomes the basis of our gratitude.
This morning represents one of those times when my appreciation for springtime has been amplified. I can thank the rays of sunlight dancing on the wet grass outside of my writing perch for that. I might as well call it what it is right now - grace. While, technically, I could draw upon the abundance of science I’ve learned over the years, settling on concepts like refraction to describe what my eyes see, I think in these moments it's the grace of God I should take notice of.
Did I mention I can be a brat sometimes? Every winter, this somber metamorphosis happens and then I’m dragged into springtime needing to molt my dreary skin. It’s awful. This ‘winter funk’ is a foregone reality for me come the end of fall, but I’ve resigned to the fact that it just is. Every year I fight the gloomy spiral and every year (this year is no exception), a few months later, my attitude emerges from its chrysalis with the butterflies, like clockwork. I realize there’s a certain reliability to this pattern after fifty years of witnessing it in myself. But you know, as they say, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” Allow me to explain.
As children of God, having been purchased from the slave market of sin, do any of us have reason to be anything but completely elated? The answer, strictly speaking, is “No.” But, yet, God has ordained such darkness in our lives so that His Light shines all the more magnificent. He ordains every low for a reason. I believe it is, in part, to establish a baseline point of comparison for our perspective.
The greater the distance between what we understand to be darkness and light, the greater the scale by which we are able to measure His grace.
Refractions of light on a dewy spring morning speak to me this way. I don’t just see an image in my brain; I see so much more. The vestiges of my ‘winter funk’ give my perspective scale. I feel a sense of emergence in springtime akin to those dark times in my life (they are often cyclical) when the Lord has saved/delivered me. Salvation proper is the greatest example, of course. But, there are countless moments in time that have been etched into my soul because of the contrast between where I was stuck and where His grace brought me. Furthermore, I can’t recall a time when He raised me up to higher ground then clouded my vision as I looked down to where I came from. In fact, it seems He prefers to give me clarity in retrospect. Why? I assume for the sake of gratitude.
Aha! There it is. Gratitude. The point of this blog. Like faith, gratitude always has an object. In terms of perspective, the grander the scale, the more gratitude we possess. We all have ‘winters’ in life, times of lowliness and even depression. Likewise, we all have ‘summers’ in life, times of highness and elation. It’s when we step back and consider the entire scope and the distance between our ’winters and summers’ that we are filled with gratitude towards God’s grace. This perspective, in and of itself, is a blessing.
I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound.
— Philippians 4:12a
As the Spirit’s had me teaching for years now from behind my pulpit - perspective is everything. If it becomes defiled or tweaked somehow, we lose the righteousness in it, our perceptions become marred and our gratitude spoiled. What’s greater than living a life of gratitude, I ask? How critical is it for us to remember where we have come from? How perfect are God’s ways compared to our own? While we curse the lows, God sees the end from the beginning. While we fester in our ‘winter doldrums,’ God is working out a good thing in those who love Him (Romans 8:28). Once we realize, as human beings, that it’s the combination of highs and lows that comprise our righteous perspective (for this is the way of the divine One), we are filled with gratitude, love, and appreciation. Every last drop of experience that somehow, inextricably brings glory to God is now realized from this vantage point, and the idea of sanctification in Christ Jesus broadens to include His perfect wisdom from up on high.
The right hand of the LORD is exalted;
The right hand of the LORD does valiantly.
I will not die, but live,
And tell of the works of the LORD.
The LORD has disciplined me severely,
But He has not given me over to death.
Open to me the gates of righteousness;
I shall enter through them, I shall give thanks to the LORD.
This is the gate of the LORD;
The righteous will enter through it.
I shall give thanks to You, for You have answered me,
And You have become my salvation.
The stone which the builders rejected
Has become the chief corner stone.
This is the LORD’S doing;
It is marvelous in our eyes.
This is the day which the LORD has made;
Let us rejoice and be glad in it.
— Psalm 118:16-24
Love in Christ,
Ed Collins
