Whose Perspective is Right?
The Lesson of the Osprey and the Heron
Judy A Bauman
Pictured here are two beautiful birds. While they are clearly not the same species, they both eat fish so both live near water. One is an Osprey (aka Fish Eagle) and the other is a Great Blue Heron.
Last week, my husband and I were taking our little pontoon boat out on the lake, when I spotted an Osprey high in the trees. It really surprised me because I had never seen one in that vicinity.
My husband was navigating out into the lake when excitedly I said, “Look, Jeff! There’s an Osprey!” As I readied my camera for a shot of the stately bird, he corrected me saying, “That’s not an Osprey; it’s a Blue Heron!”
I said, “Jeff, I have it in focus in my viewfinder, and I am telling you, it’s an Osprey!” After we went back and forth a couple of times as to who was right, I got a clear photo and showed it to him. He said, “Oh! You’re looking up in the trees; I was looking at the shoreline.” He pointed and said, “Do you see the Blue Heron?” I looked where he was pointing, and saw it seeking a meal in the same waters as the Osprey.
I realized that this was an important lesson because often we know we are right, so we believe the other person is wrong; however, in this case, we were both right. We rightly identified what we were looking at but didn’t realize we were looking at different things.
Maybe you are trying to relate something to someone, but you are both looking from different perspectives or at different subjects. Sometimes we need to stop and make sure we see what the other is looking at, and conversely, they need to stop and look from our perspective. Just like Jeff and I correctly identified what we saw, yet we were not in agreement because we weren’t looking at the same thing.
This illustrates that we need to listen to hear and look to see. One thing I know is if I ask the Lord to show me what is going on from His perspective, I have a much better chance of understanding the circumstance.
May we hear what the Spirit is saying through this little life lesson.
