A Child’s Perspective

For many years, I have remembered things and events in my mind the way I thought about them as a child —seemingly too big and impossible to be true.

I was born and lived my early childhood in a small village in North India.

It is the hottest place on Earth; at least, that is what I thought.

Our family lived in a secluded area with only one neighboring compound. Our compound was surrounded by a very, very tall wall.

Again, that’s what I thought. As an adult, I revisited my first home in North India.

To my amazement, the wall was only about three and a half feet tall! I was so shocked and surprised that I asked the man accompanying me —a friend with whom I had grown up in the small village— whether this was the same wall.

He assured me that it was. I sat down to straddle the “very, very tall” wall. With one foot on the ground, the other foot could almost touch the ground on the opposite side, and I’m only five feet, two inches (157 centimeters) tall! And the village isn’t the hottest place on Earth. Sometimes we humans never outgrow that same childish perspective I had about the very, very tall wall. We tend to think that many things are way too big or impossible to achieve. We have self-doubt and uncertainty about many other things.

Our walls are too high. Just like my perspective changed after visiting my old home, my thinking has changed as I’ve grown closer to God and matured in my Christian walk. I have learned I need to stop looking at my life and my problems like a child (or an anxious adult) who sees no way out and no way to scale the very, very tall wall. Now I turn my eyes upon Jesus, and all things have become possible through Christ. No matter how difficult, tall, or big the problem is, Jesus makes it possible for us to get past the obstacle blocking our path. He helps us climb over the situation, go under it, or go around it, and sometimes He even lifts us up to carry us through it in His mighty arms. Being held in His arms is my new perspective.

Nancy A. Mack