I'm an artist and it is crucial to stand back and get a wide lens view of a piece that I'm working on. So often I can get engrossed with a tight focus as I'm working on a painting. If I don't step back, I won't get the proper perspective, composition, balance of values...
This is a definition of value from Google:
"In art, value means the lightness or darkness of a color, tone, or area. It is one of the core elements of art and is separate from the actual color (hue). Key Uses of Value: Creating Depth, shifts from light to dark, makes flat shapes look round and three-dimensional. Guiding the Eye: High contrast (placing very light elements next to very dark ones) creates a focal point that draws the viewer’s attention. Setting the Mood: Soft, light values can feel open and calm, while heavy, dark values can feel dramatic or mysterious. Value Scale: Artists use a step-by-step grayscale gradient—ranging from pure white to pitch black—to measure and plan their tones.
The balance or unbalance of value and your painting can either bring a settled peaceful feeling to the viewer or it can bring a disturbed feeling of unbalance.
The key to creating this in your painting is to be able to zoom out and let the painting speak to you in it's entirety. Detail is important but overall composition is what draws the viewer in."
This concept can be perfectly applied to our lives. Do we have balance? Do we have healthy insight? Are we able to zoom out of situations creating a distance for a broader point of view? Can we zoom in and see our behavior in a situation and take responsibility for it? By asking and allowing God to do this in your life, It opens up a whole new viewpoint and growth pattern. It enables us to mature so that we can not only take responsibility for ourselves but we can also extend grace to other people just like Christ did for us. Taking a wider view allows us to see how a situation is affecting everyone and not just us.
Years ago I read a metaphor written by a new age author. (Although I do not adopt that philosophy at all, I know that we can glean wisdom from many things. Yet, salvation is only found in Jesus Christ). Anyway, the author produced an image of four people coming from four different paths upon a cobra. The first was a mother with her child and upon seeing the snake she clutched her child up close to her, turned and ran. The second was a snake charmer. He pulled out his instrument and began to mesmerize the snake and make it dance. He received joy from that and then he carried on. The third person was a scientist. This person studied reptiles. Those that were harmless and those that were poisonous. He observed the snake as he made sketches and took notes. Then he went on his way. The fourth person was not experienced in this land. He was bitten by the snake but someone came along and got him to treatment so he wouldn't die. The moral of the story is that there was only one situation but four different viewpoints. One learned caution and fear while another learned playfulness and joy. The third learned knowledge and the fourth learned to be aware.
What I took away from this story was that there can be a problem between two people or two groups of people. There's one problem, one situation but everyone has a different viewpoint. We as humans cannot fix things because we're also dealing with pride... Only God can see the beginning the middle and the end. Only God can see each heart. And it's only the love of God that can teach us to forgive. When we have a situations where there is unrest and battles between factions, it would do us well to step back and open the lens of our heart wide to see how everyone is feeling. Broaden our view to see what God says through his word and his actions as to how we should posture our hearts, calm our minds and act. We can also zoom in and look at the micro expressions on people's faces and see pain that we couldn't see from a distance. Anger roots from hurt, fear and frustration (Dr. Phil quote :) The two biggest pains in life are rejection and betrayal. How could we ever see what God wants if our view is through a lens of pain and anger.
Settle down, talk to God honestly and I mean honestly. Scream, cry, kick... I encourage you to read the book of Habakkuk in the Old testament. In his shorts three chapters he shows us how to be brutally honest with God as we cry out why, why, why! Then, God basically tells him to journal what he's going to tell him. The third chapter shows us that Habakkuk went from a man who was devastated, hurting, confused, angry, to a man who settled into a heart of joy as he trusted God with the whole situation and with the future.
In closing, what I'm trying to share is an insight that we should not lock our eyes and hearts in stubbornness. We should adjust our perspective and be open to what God sees in the whole thing. We can sit in it for a long time as we wallow in our pride and demands. Or, we can surrender to "the One", Jesus, who surrendered his life for our sins. Why do we find it so hard to do for others what Christ did for us.
