I recently received an e-mail from a friend titled “3200 Years in One Photo”. Needless to say, with my love of history, I was more than intrigued by the title. Turns out, it was about a very special tree. The e-mail read:
THE PRESIDENT
“Not every tree has a nickname, but 'The President' has earned it. This giant sequoia stands at 247 feet tall, and is estimated to be over 3,200 years old. Imagine, this tree was already 1200 years old when Jesus walked the earth.
The trunk of the president measures at 27 feet across, with 2 BILLION needles from base to top. Because
of its unbelievable size, this tree has never been photographed in its entirety. Until now.
A team of National Geographic photographers have worked along with scientists to try and create the first photo that shows the president
in all its glory.
They had to climb the tree with pulleys and levers, and took thousands of photos. Of those, they selected 126 and stitched them together, to get this portrait of the president. Incredible, is it not?”
“Not every tree has a nickname, but 'The President' has earned it. This giant sequoia stands at 247 feet tall, and is estimated to be over 3,200 years old. Imagine, this tree was already 1200 years old when Jesus walked the earth.
The trunk of the president measures at 27 feet across, with 2 BILLION needles from base to top. Because
of its unbelievable size, this tree has never been photographed in its entirety. Until now.
A team of National Geographic photographers have worked along with scientists to try and create the first photo that shows the president
in all its glory.
They had to climb the tree with pulleys and levers, and took thousands of photos. Of those, they selected 126 and stitched them together, to get this portrait of the president. Incredible, is it not?”
As I read this and looked at the picture, I was reminded that, just as it is hard to see a 247 feet tall tree all at once, so is it hard to see one’s life in its entirety. Like the climbers upon the tree, we usually only see a small portion of life at a time. And when we are viewing it, the current perspective all but obscures the rest of it.
A closer inspection of the picture shows that there are at least three tiny men at various points along the tree. One is at the bottom looking up. Another is near the halfway point. Still another stands near the top looking down. No doubt they all have very different perspectives on the tree.
Yet from our vantage point in the photo, we see, not a limited perspective like each of these, but the whole thing. And surely this is how God views our lives. We see them only in small snippets each passing day as they unfold. He sees them in their entirety - from beginning to end, from start to finish, from bottom to top.
My strong suspicion is that if we could learn to see things from God’s perspective, then much of the stress and worry that consumes us throughout our lives would soon dissipate. This is because we would know, just as He does, exactly what the next little bit of the journey holds. More importantly, we would be able to see exactly where it will all end up.
Alas, we usually have no such perspective. But we know the One who does! And we go forward each and every day in complete confidence that the One who guides us along our way knows exactly how things will turn out. And we anticipate with great excitement the glorious view that will be ours when we one day conclude our journey and arrive up there!
The words of the Psalmist (39:4-5 and 23:) seem a fitting conclusion to my thoughts here:
“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.” “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and (then) I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
NOTE: A Google search revealed several news stories dating from February 26, 2014 with the same essential information and pictures as reported in the e-mail. I conclude that this was the basis of the e-mail.
Example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2568138/Ext
raordinary-length-shot-President-one-largest-trees-Earth.html.
A closer inspection of the picture shows that there are at least three tiny men at various points along the tree. One is at the bottom looking up. Another is near the halfway point. Still another stands near the top looking down. No doubt they all have very different perspectives on the tree.
Yet from our vantage point in the photo, we see, not a limited perspective like each of these, but the whole thing. And surely this is how God views our lives. We see them only in small snippets each passing day as they unfold. He sees them in their entirety - from beginning to end, from start to finish, from bottom to top.
My strong suspicion is that if we could learn to see things from God’s perspective, then much of the stress and worry that consumes us throughout our lives would soon dissipate. This is because we would know, just as He does, exactly what the next little bit of the journey holds. More importantly, we would be able to see exactly where it will all end up.
Alas, we usually have no such perspective. But we know the One who does! And we go forward each and every day in complete confidence that the One who guides us along our way knows exactly how things will turn out. And we anticipate with great excitement the glorious view that will be ours when we one day conclude our journey and arrive up there!
The words of the Psalmist (39:4-5 and 23:) seem a fitting conclusion to my thoughts here:
“Show me, Lord, my life’s end and the number of my days; let me know how fleeting my life is. You have made my days a mere handbreadth; the span of my years is as nothing before you.” “Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and (then) I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.”
NOTE: A Google search revealed several news stories dating from February 26, 2014 with the same essential information and pictures as reported in the e-mail. I conclude that this was the basis of the e-mail.
Example: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2568138/Ext
raordinary-length-shot-President-one-largest-trees-Earth.html.