Zooming In

There are days when the state of humanity weighs you down. You hear a debate or read something online or get a letter in the mail and your soul is tempted to despair. The same thing happens with my kids: I take one situation or response and zoom out, trying to understand how this negative characteristic in them could play out as they get older.

The problem is, zooming out never seems to bring peace.

But zooming in does. The state of our nation politically may trouble me, but if I think about the kindness of professionals in our community, I am encouraged. A child may have a terrible morning tantrum, but then spend the rest of the afternoon helping me clean the kitchen.

I don't know if we're meant to see the big picture most of the time... most Biblical characters never did.. I wonder if peace comes most tangibly when we force ourselves to see the smallest picture possible? Does taking the time to see a tiny picture give us the hope we need to ultimately form a more realistic (and ultimately more beautiful) bigger picture? When our souls rejoice in what we see on a small scale, perhaps we're better equipped to keep doing the next right thing. Ultimately, this leads to a bigger picture that is far more hopeful.

The story of Ruth captures this so well in the Bible. Naomi left Bethlehem during a famine, and returned ten years later without her husband and sons. All the men in her life died in a foreign land, and when Naomi returns to her hometown with only her daughter--in-law Ruth, she asks her people to change her name to Mara, which translates as bitter.

Her life had been laden with despair, but her lack of hope prevented her from seeing the small but good things that were unfolding right in front of her. For example, she returned during a time of harvest. Having left hungry, she came back when food was plentiful. She also returned with a daughter-in-law more faithful than even a husband. "Your people will be my people, and your God, my God." Ruth, in faith, declared that even death couldn't separate her from her mother-in-law.

Ultimately, Ruth and Naomi are provided for by a man who was their family's kinsman redeemer. The baby Ruth and Boaz have together is the great-great-great grandfather of King David, but they could not have known that. Naomi was so consumed by her losses, that she was unable to see the good right there. Her hardship did not have to make her bitter.

Let's be women of faith who zoom in on the small everyday good we experience. One day, we will catch sight of the larger picture of all that God can do, and will rejoice even further then.