Article January 14, 2013 ISSUE

A God's-eye view

Diane S. Staples

More than 30 years ago, God unfolded to me a whole new view of my life—a view that gave me a powerful sense of eternity. At the time, I was at a very low point. My husband of 21 years was asking for a divorce, and I was terrified about my future.

One day I was sitting at the kitchen table, praying and crying at the same time, when suddenly this thought began to unfold: When a three-year-old child breaks his favorite toy, he comes to his mother in tears. It’s a major tragedy in his life. But his mother knows what’s happened is not really so devastating. Why? Because she sees her child’s life from a different perspective. She can see his whole life in a way that he can’t, and she knows he’s not going to still be upset about this even a couple of months from now, let alone two years from now, or when he’s ten years old, or forty. And so she tenderly gathers him up in her lap, dries his tears, and assures him that there will be other toys and other good times.