“Love one another with brotherly affection. Outdo one another in showing honor” (Romans 12:10 ESV).
I stayed with friends while finishing up the last week of my job. They were so generous allowing me to live with them especially during COVID-19 times. You may have heard that pet adoption has exploded during this pandemic. My friends wanted to adopt a cat but the local shelter apparently only had one and so they looked at dogs instead. They came home with a coon hound mix puppy, Gracie. As all puppies do, Gracie has gotten into a lot of trouble with chewing on things and eating things that could hurt her. Puppies are a ton of work to train and keep safe!
It has been very interesting listening to each of my friends separately from the other. They each claim that the other person really wanted to adopt this dog and that the other person isn’t doing enough to support raising the puppy. Could it be that they are both right even though they say opposing things? Sometimes when I’m on the phone with my mom relaying a story of something that happened to Ryan and I, he’ll be listening in from another room and think… “That’s not how I remember it!” Perspective plays an important role in how we think and how we view situations. One of the best examples of this is when Ryan and I are looking for something in our fridge. He is taller than me and so his perspective is a whole foot different! “Where are the beans?” “Well… they are right here on the bottom shelf; can’t you see them?” “Where are the leftovers?” Well… they are on the top shelf, can’t you see them?” It is easier for each of us to see a certain section of the fridge, and we each tend to ignore those parts that are harder for us to see without extra effort. The point is that we are both looking at the exact same thing, with a different experience.
I’ve thought about my friends and their puppy. Each person is coming to the situation from their own perspective, as we all do. It is easy to “see” what we think other people should be doing, whether that is our spouse, friend, parent, child, or stranger. We will meet people who have vastly different experiences and opinions than we do. Are their experiences and opinions wrong simply because we don’t share the same? It is hard to walk in someone else’s shoes. Yesterday Ryan was standing in our living room and said, “this sounds so weird.” So I went and didn’t hear anything different. When he bent down to my height he couldn’t hear it anymore! God has given us each unique perspectives, and even in the same household we all have various experiences. May the Holy Spirit remind me that my perspective is not the only one and help me to treat all people with love and respect.