Perspective

 

Recently, after carrying heavy bags up the stairs leading to our beach house, I felt somewhat light-headed, probably because of the sudden exertion after a long car ride. But as I gazed out over the ocean and toward the blue horizon, I felt my equilibrium restored.

About two years ago, I had to rehearse for our dance ministry when I had nearly, but incompletely, recovered from a 24-hour bout of episodic vertigo. Spinning and being lifted overhead, sometimes while upside down, were more challenging than usual! But I found that if I looked up and into the distance, the vertigo disappeared and my balance quickly returned.

The key to overcoming these troubling situations seemed to be a matter of perspective. Keeping my focus narrowed on myself and my immediate surroundings aggravated my discomfort, whereas shifting to a broader, heavenward view gave me a reassuring sense of stability.

Leonardo da Vinci, the great Renaissance painter, was a master of one point perspective. This technique uses parallel lines converging at a single vanishing point to create the illusion of depth while drawing the viewer’s eye to focus on the main subject. In his renowned “Last Supper,” the vanishing point is behind the head of Jesus Christ, and the lines in the painting all converge on His right eye, directing the viewer's attention to Him.

Perspective has spiritual as well as physical and visual implications. When chaos swirls all around us, we can choose a heavenly rather than a worldly perspective and keep our eyes, hearts and minds focused on Jesus Christ. Remembering that we are saved by trusting in His death, burial and resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6) and are promised eternal life with Him (John 3:16), all our worldly cares grow dim.

Just as Leonardo used artistic techniques to highlight Jesus Christ as his most important subject, we can use our spiritual gifts to give Him the pre-eminence in our lives. We must keep ourselves from idols, or any goal, relationship, or pursuit that we value more dearly than Him (1 John 5:21). We must bring every thought into captivity and subjection to Him, while casting out any prideful idea opposed to God’s supremacy (2 Corinthians 10:5).

Scripture urges us to pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:17), to be anxious about nothing (Philippians 4:6), and to meditate on God’s Word day and night (Deuteronomy 6:7; Psalm 119). Although our thoughts may flutter about like a swarm of bees, each bee can light on only one blossom at a time, and our mind can only process one thought at a time. So if we direct our thoughts to God, wicked, intrusive, or anxious thoughts take flight.

Like Elisha, we should pray for our own eyes and those of our loved ones to be opened to God’s perspective, seeing not only our physical enemies but also the angels and great cloud of witnesses far outnumbering and overpowering any physical dangers or foes (2 Kings 6:15-17).

If we first seek Jesus Christ and His righteousness, He will not only allow us to find these, but will add on the blessing of meeting all our physical and spiritual needs (Matthew 6:33). Beginning our prayers with praise and thanksgiving reminds us of His infinite power, wisdom, righteousness and love, and His great mercy and grace (Matthew 6:9-13). It reminds us to shift our focus from our weakness to His strength (2 Corinthians 12:9), from our confusion to His solution, from our fear to the faith only He can provide (2 Corinthians 4:8-18).

Turning next in prayer to intercession for the great needs of our loved ones, church family, acquaintances, and even our enemies (Matthew 5:44) changes our perspective by making our own problems seem small in comparison. Then we can ask for whatever personal concerns remain on our hearts, but by then our attitude is likely to have shifted from grumbling or anxiety to gratitude.

In today’s perplexing and distressing End Times, the world, our flesh and the devil want us to focus on the problems, misery, and evil all around us, to paralyze us with fear and distract us from doing God’s work, following His Word, and worshipping Him. But the Holy Spirit within each believer encourages us to look up, for our redemption is near! (Luke 21:28). May we shift our perspective to heavenly things above (Colossians 3:1-2).

In this life we will be troubled and we will face many trials and much suffering (1 Peter 4:12). But in the vast scope of eternity, these all last but a fleeting moment (2 Corinthians 4:17) and will all vanish at the last trump, when we are raised in our glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:52-53) and get our first glimpse of our Savior’s precious face!

Then our perspective will change completely, for we will know Him as He now knows us (1 Corinthians 13:12). We will enjoy Him, Heaven and one another throughout eternity, never again to experience death, aging, sin, sorrow or pain!

Look up, for our redemption draws nigh!

© 2023 Laurie Collett

Vertigo

Wellcome Images 2018

 

A few nights ago I awoke from a sound sleep and got out of bed, when I suddenly fell backward, as if a tsunami had flooded over me, swept me away in its whirling fury, and pinned me helpless against the mattress.

Thankfully, it subsided in about 30 seconds, but when I cautiously struggled to my feet and began to walk, I found myself veering off to the left. That also soon resolved but left me feeling shaken and unsteady.

As a retired neurologist, I began to diagnose myself and realized I had no other symptoms of stroke, was too old for new onset multiple sclerosis (MS), and had no fever or other symptoms of viral infection. However, the left side of my head was congested, which I sometimes experience in the morning because of allergies, and the left side of my neck was sore, also not unusual as my husband and I have been strenuously rehearsing our latest Theatre Arts dance with overhead lifts and drops.

So I reasoned that sinus pressure and neck muscle spasm had brought on the vertigo by sending faulty signals to the system that maintains balance and equilibrium. I used an herbal nasal spray and anti-inflammatory medication with some relief of the head and neck symptoms. We went to morning practice as usual, but when I attempted to get up after lying down on the floor to stretch, the tsunami returned, again rendering me helpless in its swirling current.

Discouraged and unable to practice, we returned home. I realized that I must have benign paroxysmal positional vertigo, a common and seldom serious condition in which a calcium deposit, called an otolith, dislodges from its usual position in the innermost canal of the inner ear and escapes to the outermost canal, where it causes a false sense of movement. The vertigo usually comes on suddenly after a period of lying down, particularly when turning the head to the affected side and arising quickly, or from any sudden movement or positional change.

Vertigo is a curse for anyone. For a female Theatre Arts dancer, it is the kiss of death, as this dance form involves spins, lifts, drops, and sudden changes of position from standing to being suspended horizontally over the partner’s head or even held upside down – often while spinning. Any momentary lapse in balance or spatial awareness could result in a disastrous fall from overhead and cause serious injury.

I prayed that the symptoms would just disappear, but in case they didn’t, I planned to try a maneuver known as the Epley maneuver, designed to guide the otolith back into the innermost canal of the inner ear. The next morning, a repeat bout of vertigo upon arising led me to test this plan. With my husband’s help, I went through a series of rapid position changes, which brought on more dizziness, alternating with rest periods on the bed.

When the maneuver was completed, I had no more vertigo, but I felt uneasy, unsettled, and dissociated from my surroundings. After breakfast, coffee, and much prayer, we decided to attempt rehearsing again. I found that by focusing out in the distance and being hypervigilant about my balance, there was no vertigo, despite the spins, drops, lifts, and position changes. Apparently these all happened too quickly to give the otolith sufficient time to dislodge from its normal position. The following day, I had no symptoms, nor have I had any since. Praise the Lord for His faithfulness (Psalm 89:8) and for answered prayer!

Unexpected blessings from this harrowing encounter were the knowledge of how to deal with this in the future if it were ever to recur, perhaps closer to a performance setting when I might not have the luxury of being able to rest or take a break, or the time or Internet access to research how to do the Epley maneuver.

An even greater blessing was the new-found gratitude in being able to do what I sometimes take for granted – not just complex, challenging dance moves, but even simple actions like getting out of bed or walking without literally bouncing off the wall. It reminded me of recovering from the pneumonia I had several years ago, and being thankful just to be able to breathe freely, sleep quietly without coughing, and walk across a room without getting short of breath.

Sometimes God allows incidents like these into our lives to remind us of our total dependence on Him (John 15:5) and thankfulness for every move we make and every breath we take (Acts 17:28). As Oswald Chambers wrote in My Utmost for His Highest, “It is the sick person who really knows what health is.” The logical extension is that it is only the person who knows he is a sinner deserving eternal punishment in hell who can receive God’s free gift of eternal life in Heaven (Romans 3:23; 6:23).

Minimizing the vertigo by directing my gaze upward and outward reminded me to always keep my focus on Jesus and His kingdom, particularly when encountering the turbulence of life, and to look up (Luke 21:28), for our redemption through the Rapture is close at hand!

This episode of vertigo also reminded me that sometimes He even allows our lives to be turned upside down or set spinning, all for our ultimate good and His glory (Romans 8:28).

Before we can be saved by trusting in the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ (1 Corinthians 15:1-4) as the only Way to Heaven (John 14:6), we must come to the end of ourselves, which may feel like a total upheaval of all we know and believe.

The early church, first known as Christians, or ‘the Way,” turned the world upside down by spreading the truth and Word of their Savior Jesus Christ (Acts 11:26; 22:4). His crucifixion was marked by extraordinary events, including the sky turning black at midday, a great earthquake, the dead arising from their graves, and the thick, impenetrable veil of the temple tearing from top to bottom (Matthew 27:45-54; 28:2), symbolizing God in the flesh coming from Heaven to earth (John 1:1-14) to end the separation of Holy God from sinful man (Romans 5:10). His resurrection was the single most significant, paradigm-shifting event of all time.

Even His teachings seem filled with paradox that set conventional wisdom on its head. We must lose our life to save it (Matthew 16:25). He who is first will be last, and he who is last will be first (Matthew 20:16). The meek shall inherit the earth, and the poor shall inherit the kingdom of heaven (Matthew 5:3-5).

With God’s infinite power (Genesis 35:11), far exceeding that of any tsunami, whether real or perceived, the blind shall see, the lame shall leap, and the dead shall live again (John 3:16) in Him! Every molecule in our earthly body shall be rearranged in the twinkling of an eye as He transforms us into our glorified body (1 Corinthians 15:52) that will never age, die, or experience pain, sorrow or sin! Even the earth will be burned with heat so intense (2 Peter 3:10) that it transforms its molecular structure into the New Jerusalem!

Praise God that only He can turn things completely around and upside down and make them completely new (2 Corinthians 5:17), and that He even gives us earthly reminders of what is to come when He returns for His children!  

© 2021 Laurie Collett