Spiritual Sunday - Seeing the Big Picture

Right now I am in the midst of reading Lost in Translation by Nicole Mones. There was a quote that I ran across last night in my reading that just struck me right in the heart and said it was perfect for Spiritual Sunday.

The worst failing of our minds is that we fail to see the really big problems simply because the forms in which they arise are right under our eyes.

Seeing the big picture is hard. I don't know about all of you but I have been in my own world lately seeing little things because that is what I can cope with. Handling those little things is about all I can handle. But those little things are hard to handle. What I failed to see was all of those little things were in reality parts of that larger picture all broken down and shattered into those small pieces. Putting them together would have allowed one to respond appropriately and see the big picture and thus solve them all in one clean sweep.

So I sat down and thought - what are the larger implications of my issue? How does what I'm doing fit into the Big Picture?

Is it really important to see the big picture? Yes it is. One needs to have critical thinking skills in order to move forward and so we can see the impact of our words and actions. Being able to see the big picture means having an open mind. I wasn't doing that as an office manager. I was trying to put out the little fires without ever seeing the forest fire raging within each of my employees or my bosses. But even more important, I was not seeing the big picture in my own health and life. I was trapped in handling each surgery, each problem with the inlaws, my mother's death, and had neatly compartmentalized them. But I wasn't living. I was reacting.

I had forgotten to see my big lifetime picture. All I saw were the little lessons and I was not coordinating those little lessons and using them to learn. Instead I was choosing to look at life from a more human and emotional perspective. I was standing in place without realizing what purpose those little lessons were in my big picture. I was missing opportunities and failed to see how my interactions with others effected or didn't effect them.

Looking back though, every once in a while I get into this rut and it is normal. Thankfully something happens to raise my awareness and I begin to see for myself what lessons I should have learned and begin to once again look at that big picture. Wouldn't it be nice if we could always do that?

But we can't. We are human. We are a maze of emotional, physical, and mental experiences that don't seem to have any purpose at all but in reality are part of that big picture. Keep your faith in yourself. Learn to take a deep breath, step back, and recognize and respect all those little things that are bogging us down so that we may once again look at the big picture and spiritually grow.

I know I am.