How changing your perspective can flip the moon upside down!

Where is the line between perspective and reality? What is real?

Consider the sun as it rises in the east, soars across the azure sky, and sinks below the western horizon at dusk. During the day, it seems to slowly traverse the heavens, but in reality, the sun isn’t moving, at least not with respect to the earth. So why does it appear to?

Because the earth is spinning. The earth rotates at about one thousand miles an hour, but it doesn’t feel like we’re moving. Why? Because we are moving at the same speed as the earth. That movement is undetectable to our senses. It appears that the sun is moving, not us. Therefore, we see things from a perspective different from reality. For us, it looks like the sun comes up in the morning and sets at night. We could live our entire lives never knowing the truth.

In what other ways do we live with an altered perspective of reality?

The sun is constant and unmoving, illuminating the solar system. The love of our Heavenly Father is like that—unchanging and unmoving. He chastens us as any loving parent would, but His corrections are based on unchanging, eternal love. We are His sons and daughters, valuable and precious.

Interestingly, it’s natural, expected even, for us to believe otherwise. But why?

The Spinning Earth and Our Spinning Minds

In this temporal sphere, we’re keenly conscious of our weaknesses. We think negative thoughts and judge others and ourselves. Perhaps the answer is just as easily understood as the concept of the earth’s rotation. Ours is a temporal existence. Our gift of agency is often misunderstood, abused, disregarded, or exercised flippantly.

We live with imperfections, sins, and shortcomings, and our earthly perspective, like the earth, is continually spinning. If there is a bona fide expert on our imperfections, that person is us—each of us! This awareness of our faults sets our world spinning, muddying our perspective and consequently separating us from our Heavenly Father. And just as the earth turns and day becomes night, sometimes we see the light and feel Heavenly Father’s warmth, and other times we’re left shivering and blinded by our feelings of inadequacy.

So, what is the reality?

Just as the sun ALWAYS shines, Heavenly Father’s love is ever present. That is the reality. Furthermore, the sun’s mass creates a force of gravity so powerful it keeps the earth close, even as it spins day to night and night to day, over and over again.

So, too, the range of human emotions is as natural as the earth’s rotation. Just as daytime and nighttime are a normal part of life, so are good and bad, joy and sadness, pain and pleasure. As children of God, however, we are meant to experience joy and growth and to thrive in the sun’s warm light—not just survive in the cold darkness of night.

And so, there is good news.

What’s the good news?

The good news is that when we find ourselves in shadow, we don’t have to spin the whole world to see the sun’s light or feel Heavenly Father’s warmth. By changing our perspective, we begin to see this truth: His love is unmoving, unchanging, and ALWAYS shining brightly, even if we can’t see or feel it. His love is infinite and so immense it’s beyond understanding. And like the sun’s gravity, His love keeps us close.

Because He remains constant, we can calm our troubled minds by trusting Him. Our weaknesses and sins lose their power as we humble ourselves and embrace His love. We’re no longer chained to the error of our thinking when we draw close to our Heavenly Father and allow ourselves to feel Him near.

We gain an eternal perspective in knowing that we are His children and by choosing to live in His infinite, eternal, and everlasting love. So let’s be kind to ourselves. We are precious to Him and of infinite worth!