Holding Still When Life Shifts the Frame

Some days I wonder where the human race is going. We speak so freely about perspective, yet it’s one of the most subjective things we possess. It can be shaped by emotion, coloured by experience, and influenced by the season we find ourselves in. The reality is simple: perspective is different for everyone.

Perspective is formed by our current reality — our circumstances, our challenges, our victories, and our struggles. Objectivity often requires distance. It asks us to step outside of our situation, even briefly, to see a bigger picture than the one we’re standing in.

Scripture reminds us of this difference clearly:

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord. Isaiah 55:8–9

Recently, while out on a run, I stopped to take a photo of some flowers on a bottlebrush tree. If you know me, you know I use moments like that often across my socials. I love capturing small details in creation — reminders that beauty exists even in the ordinary.

I framed the photo exactly as I wanted it. Then the wind moved the leaves.

Suddenly the image felt wrong. It wasn’t what I had envisioned. Nothing about the tree had changed. The flowers were the same. The light was the same. Yet in my mind, the whole picture was now “out of perspective” because it no longer matched what I had planned.

So I stood still. I held the camera steady. I waited. And then I took another photo — this time in the perspective I originally intended.

Same tree. Same flowers. Same frame. The only thing that changed was my perspective — and suddenly the object I was looking at felt completely different.

That moment stayed with me.

Because isn’t that exactly how life works?

God’s creation doesn’t change when the wind blows — we do. Our circumstances shift. Situations move unexpectedly. Things don’t unfold the way we imagined, and suddenly it feels like everything is out of control. But more often than not, the bigger picture is still there — steady, intentional, and purposeful — even when we can’t see it clearly.

“We live by faith, not by sight.” 2 Corinthians 5:7

There are seasons when life forces us to pause. To hold still. To stop reacting to the movement around us and instead wait — not passively, but intentionally — trusting that what feels disrupted may simply be part of a greater design we don’t yet understand.

“Be still, and know that I am God. ”Psalm 46:10

Challenges don’t always mean something is broken. Sometimes they are invitations — invitations to adjust our perspective, to step back from our own expectations, and to realign our hearts with faith rather than fear.

“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to Him, and He will make your paths straight.”Proverbs 3:5–6

We want clarity now. We want certainty in the moment. But scripture gently reminds us that our view is limited.

“For now we see only a reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.”1 Corinthians 13:12

God sees the full frame. We only see the moment.

And maybe growth — real, lasting growth — happens when we stop fighting the wind, stop forcing the picture to look the way we think it should, and instead allow our perspective to shift. When we trust that even in the movement, even in the uncertainty, God is still holding the bigger picture.

The tree didn’t change that day. The flowers didn’t move with intention. Only my perspective did.

And sometimes, that’s all that needs to change.