Knowing When to Zoom Out

It took me close to fifty tries to get a good shot of these doves.

My hubby and I were sitting at the kitchen table on Saturday morning drinking coffee and chatting. I had been watching out the window at a greedy squirrel raid our bird feeder. He would lose his balance from time to time and then the birds would rush in for a few minutes. But, then something else caught my eye. It was a dove.

I was enchanted. I don’t know what it is about doves, but seeing them always makes me smile. The Holy Spirit is often depicted as a dove and they show up quite often in the Bible. When one showed up with an olive branch for Noah, he knew that the flood was at long last over. We often think of them as symbols of peace and love as well.

Imagine my delight, when I spotted the second one sitting on the branch next to its mate. I wondered out loud if I could capture them in a photo. I sincerely doubted it because I find that birds rarely sit still for long and getting a picture of them is usually difficult, (for me anyway). But, something told me to try.

I’ve come to a point in my journey with God, when I obey the gentle nudges. I often find that He has something to communicate with me through them. I find myself taking pictures of everything from rocks to dirty dishes sometimes with absolutely no idea why. Eventually, though, I know. They are meant to tie in with some post that I haven’t even begun to conceive of yet. His ways continually amaze me.

This nudge proved to be no different. I went upstairs and stood in my bathtub and took close to fifty shots. Most were unusable and completely out of focus. I was zoomed in so closely, that I would often lose sight of the birds altogether and I would have to zoom back out and find them in the big picture, in order to focus on them again.

The entire process got me to thinking about how often we get so hyper-focused on a problem or issue in our lives, that it becomes all we can think about, but we just can’t seem to find the right answers. Perhaps, if we zoom out and try to look at the bigger picture, things will become clearer. Sometimes we need to ask ourselves will this issue even matter ten years from now? Sometimes we need to discuss it with a trusted friend.

Often times, we need to pray about it and then give it to God. And that’s often the hardest part isn’t it? We can talk to friends about our troubles. We can even pray about them. But, where we really find ourselves struggling, is with the concept of giving it to God and waiting for His guidance on how or when we should move. We don’t like to give up control of our worries and anxieties. We want to fix it ourselves. We allow ourselves to be consumed with them. This human tendency does not come from God.

God’s way is quite the contrary. “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:6-7

What do you know? The word peace has appeared again. I think I may be on the right track. I’m going to try to do a better job at zooming out on the problems and conflicts in my life. I can always use a little more peace. Care to join me?

Have an awesome day!

Wendy 🙂