Altering the Approach
By L.D. Kirklin
A couple months ago, a friend and I set out to assemble a large, outdoor playset in a local neighborhood. When we arrived at the location, four large boxes filled with thousands of pieces awaited us. We carried the boxes to an open area and tried to formulate a game plan for the assembly. Inside one of the boxes was an instruction manual that made Tolstoy’s War and Peace feel like reading the back of a cereal box. If only adding milk could complete a project … but I digress. To say we were a bit overwhelmed would be an understatement of great proportion.
We began perusing the manual, trying to make sense of its instruction, but it felt like a nearly impossible task. There was no order of any kind to the sea of parts. The pieces for each step were scattered through different boxes, marked only by a small, often obscured number. Then there was the hardware … oh yes, the hardware. Over 100 small bags of hardware were thrown together in a larger bag with no rhyme or reason as to how they were numbered. Nuts and Bolts and Screws, oh my!
Now, logic would say we could arrange the hardware according to the steps if we could find and match the numbers on the bags to the numbers in the manual. Logic however didn’t account for the fact that step 17 required some of the same screws as step 45, while the bolts for step 3 came back into play for step 62. By now I’m certain you can see where this was going … nowhere … and quickly.
Finally, after multiple attempts to come up with a plan that worked, we decided the only thing we could do was find the pieces and hardware for step 1 and just get started. You might say we had to go against the age-old advice and purposely lose sight of the forest so we could focus on the trees. While it was a foreign concept, it proved successful and, several hours later, the forest, or rather the playset, was built.
After we finished, I looked back over our project pictures, and I realized that our approach changed along the way. We started by focusing on each tree in the playset forest, but as the number of pieces lessened, and the hardware became familiar, the blurry task at hand started to clear up and reveal the forest. Each step gave us a better idea of how the next steps would fit together. As we neared the end, we no longer saw each step as individual entities, but as one united object. The details became the big picture…or perhaps the big picture reflected the details.
As a nature photographer, I enjoy focusing on the details of my surroundings. Whether it is the vibrant color of a single Fall leaf or the delicate petals of a new Spring blossom, I delight in the details of my subjects. However, when I am standing on a mountain top, gazing out over miles of hill and vale, I delight in how every detail of nature around me lends to the big, beautiful picture that I am blessed to see.
If I use the same photographic technique on a leaf as I do on a landscape, the results will not be the same because the subjects are different. Each photo opportunity is unique to itself and because of that, each opportunity requires its own unique approach. The same is true of everyday life. We cannot handle every situation, event or person the same way and expect our results to be identical.
Just like in the experience of assembling the playset, there are instances when we need to change the way we handle things. There will be moments when the details matter and moments when we simply need to focus on the big picture. There will be moments when someone needs encouraging words and moments when someone needs encouraging silence. There will be moments when we need to be patient and wait, and moments when we need to be ready and move. Are we paying attention or have we simply switched on auto pilot?
The truth is we’re not always going to get life right. We’re going to focus on the wrong things now and then and we’re going to cause ourselves trouble. The thing to remember is that every day is a blessing in which we can choose to do better. Every day holds opportunities to change a situation that’s not working. Every day has details, and every day has a big picture … and every day we get to decide our approach.
…never underestimate the power of perspective.
