Just imagine...

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I put before you a piece of modern art - But is it really? Take a step backwards and have another look....

I saw a cartoon once, where two people were looking at some art in a gallery. "Exquisite in its detail," one exclaims. Not to be outdone, the other replies, "Such order amidst chaos." What made it funny? Amongst all the wonderful paintings adorning the walls of the gallery, they were commenting on a very functional light switch!

Isn't it true that sometimes we're too close to the action? We get so focused on ourselves that we miss the reality. Aren't we like the five year-old who said, "I think I know everything - I can't think of anything I don't know"?

Or like a couple of kids, we'll argue till the cows come home for our point of view to prevail! We draw a line in the sand and present our opinion as fact, quite confident that we're right, and they're wrong! All men are chauvinists! The earth is flat! Corporal punishment is child abuse!

But rather than engage in a heated argument "No it isn't!", "Yes it is!" we need to stop and ask a question: "Why do you think it is?" or "Why do you think it isn't?" and, "What do you know that I don't!" In regards to relationships or value judgements, what negative (or positive) experience have you had that has so coloured your perception? Where are you coming from?

Our current idea of "truth" must be able to be challenged, even if it  means un-learning the learnt, and growing beyond our current experience, or even what we've been taught by "experts."

And let's face it, despite living in the most incredible "Knowledge Age" that I have personally ever experienced, we still know so little. Discoveries in the galaxies blow my mind, and in medicine, the more we know, the more we realise we don't!

I'm not saying we need to find the middle ground or compromise our values, but rather, that there might sometimes be another point of view, based on information outside our own limited knowledge, which if we only took the time to understand, we might happily embrace!

Imagine if Jesus meant it when he said we'd do much greater things than he did...

Imagine if God really was big enough to not only know every person on earth, but also to have compassion for every single one of them!

We need to get out of our small-minded village mentality and look beyond the horizon. We need to quit focusing on the easy stuff that we can see, within our frame of reference, and look for the bigger picture.

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the "modern art" at the start of this post was copied from inside the white square in this picture. I guess I got too close....