Angles

In just about everything we do, there may be several ways to get the job done but there is likely one way that is most efficient and probably more effective. It's all a question of your angle of attack, or in other words, your perspective.

In soccer, a goalkeeper is responsible for preventing the other team from scoring. They must defend a goal that is 24 feet wide and 8 feet high, or about 4 times as long as a 6' tall man and just tall enough that the same man could reach the cross bar at full reach. Clearly the keeper is at a disadvantage! The strategy is to set yourself at an angle to the goal that allows you to minimize the amount of empty goal space that the attacker can aim at. By taking the right angle, the keeper is more effective at preventing goals.

On Iron Chef America, two chefs are given 60 minutes to prepare a full five course meal utilizing a secret ingredient in each course that they don't discover until right before the competition begins. They lead a team of chefs to accomplish their goal and win the competition which is judged on taste, originality, and the artistry used to serve the food. To accomplish so much so quickly, you know they'll fall back on their experience to deliver the best product possible. The end result is directly derived from their perspective, or their past experiences. If you are like me and your perspective is how to boil water, then you wouldn't do very well!

The four gospels in the Bible are another example of perspective. They all tell the same story of Jesus, but do so in interestingly different ways. For example, take a look at these verses from each that show what happened as Jesus was being arrested.

With that, one of Jesus' companions reached for his sword, drew it out and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. -- Matthew 26:51 NIV

Then one of those standing near drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his ear. -- Mark 14:47 NIV

And one of them struck the servant of the high priest, cutting off his right ear. But Jesus answered, "No more of this!" And he touched the man's ear and healed him. -- Luke 22:50-51 NIV

Then Simon Peter, who had a sword, drew it and struck the high priest's servant, cutting off his right ear. (The servant's name was Malchus.) -- John 18:10 NIV

They all describe the same event, but look at the differences. Three of them describe a sword but the other doesn't. There is an ear-ectomy in all of them but two accounts specify the right ear. Only one of them even mentions that Jesus healed the man's ear.

They all tell the truth. We could read any of the four accounts and would easily understand what had taken place, but by looking at all four perspectives we start to get a clearer picture, don't we?

Remember, there is always more than one side to a story. If you choose to only believe the first account you hear, you run the risk of narrowing your perspective which could very well lead to false assumptions and misconceptions...and those are not things you want to stock up on! By looking into a matter and searching for all of the different angles on it, you allow your own perspective to properly develop and by allowing that to happen, you gain wisdom.