A lesson on perspective.

Objects in mirror are closer than they appear...

These are words we read all the time. Why? Because it is an important message--so important its printed on the mirror, not just an overlay you can peel off after reading it once.

Now you know the message printed on the mirror is true. However, some person might think its stupid that this message is printed on their mirror never to be removed.

Unless we put this message in the proper perspective, we may miss its significance. Is it important that we know that what we see in the mirror is not reality? Of course!

Well isn't that the way it is. Sometimes we see something in life and instantly it has an emotion attached to it because the 'good' 'bad' 'ugly' 'sad' 'mean' 'kind' thing that happened tends to evoke something within us. If left to our own devices, we may think of the 'good' 'bad' 'ugly' 'sad' etc thing as a single emotion forever.

But time lends perspective. And its in perspective that we find not reality but eternity. In the perspective of eternity--we see things as they truly are because we can see afar off rather than in a distorted vision of what's in the past.

Eternity lends itself two ways. Eternity does not refer solely to the future, it refers to the past as well. Life is a continuum and while mortality particularly seems to have its fair share of ups and downs, highs and lows, an eternal perspective allows us to see events in life contribute to something greater--like the shaping of our spiritual souls, the essence of who we are.

When we view things this way, events in life aren't just things that happen to us--they become decision points where one has two choices. We can ask ourselves, why me? or we can say, what am i to learn? Choosing the path less traveled and continuing down the path, however overgrown and uphill that path may be will in the end lead to a vista where all things become clear due to the elements being placed in proper perspective.

Perhaps I've lost you in my thoughts by now. But in conclusion, I want to add a couple more things.

These past few months have been a time of great learning experiences. Dare I say the last year has been filled with experiences that have allowed an intense learning curve. I don't imagine that to change in the future--I don't expect life getting any 'easier' anytime soon. And so, that is why I share my feelings about perspective. I feel that when I take the time to look at the bigger picture, it is easier to keep moving forward.

Perspective puts pain in a proper perspective. Something I realized this weekend is that the role of the Spirit (Holy Ghost) is not to protect us from ever having painful experiences. Sometimes, when we hurt whether it be spiritual, emotional, physical or mental hurt we think--I must have done something wrong or I must not have followed a prompting right otherwise, I wouldn't be feeling all this pain. But one of the roles of the Spirit is not to be a protector of pain but a comfort and guide in times when we feel pain. In those moments we can choose to overcome pain either the Lord's way or the other way (which essentially is any other way).

And so we have a choice. Making a correct choice at this time requires perspective. Its remembering the source of true comfort, and true healing. Its remembering that the only way essentially is the Lord's way and that only through the Atonement, can all that is unfair about life be made right.