New York’s Museum of Natural History
Sometime in the 1940s New York’s Museum of Natural History created a living room space–from the perspective of a small dog. Table legs rose like tall pillars, chair seats hovered overhead, and the mantel of the fireplace loomed higher still.
Now any human museum-goer would instantly know this was an unrealistic representation from our point of view. But if we were all Shih Tzus, we’d bark to one another how accurately the decorator had appointed the room.
Which view of the museum display is correct—that of people or Shi Tzus? Our instinctive response is: the way it appears to us as humans is the accurate view.
And we think, The poor little pups—living their whole lives with the illusion that furniture is almost always gigantic.
No doubt that museum space provided plenty of entertainment. But perhaps an important lesson was hiding among the over-sized furniture and features.
What if we compared Planet Earth to that room? Then we are the small creatures gazing upwards—at towering mountains, high plateaus, and tall waterfalls.
Angel Falls in Venezuela, 3,212 feet tall
Oh, but our view must be expanded further—far beyond Mount Everest even.
We must consider what Planet Earth looks like to God, who made the numerous planets, spinning in billions of galaxies. On a map of the stars, our tiny planet isn’t even represented.
Yet it’s so easy to lose sight of this reality. Our sphere of contacts–family, friends, and coworkers –becomes our entire world.
The pursuit of happiness within this microcosm becomes our whole focus, fed by the illusion that living life “my way” is the ticket to happiness and satisfaction.
Then there’s God’s point of view, as taught by Jesus:
Which view of reality is accurate–our view or that of our sovereign Maker (who sees, understands and controls everything)?
Logic supports the latter. The real world-view is God’s view.
And if we’re ready to accept that reality, then we must also agree it makes sense to follow his instruction manual, the Bible, for living in the world he created.
My self-serving, egocentric side says, Wait a minute. I have my own ideas of what’s best for me. I oughtta know what’ll make me happy. Doesn’t my viewpoint count for anything?
Such thinking exposes my lack of understanding, putting me on the level of a little dog in that museum living room! My world view is flawed.
No, I’d be much wiser to embrace God’s point of view as revealed in his Word, and learn about reality—the reality of his invisible, spiritual kingdom and its benefits:
His foundation of security:
His way to happiness:
His treasure of truth:
His gift of peace:
* * * * * * * * * *
Thank you, Father, for these benefits and more, lovingly bestowed as we seek to live within the spiritual reality of your kingdom. Yes, it’s invisible to our human eyes, but no less real than the wind.
And as we follow you and obey your Word, the more real your transcendent world becomes, the more wonders we experience. Help me outgrow the immaturity of illusions and embrace the truths of your reality!
(Information about New York’s Museum of Natural History room-display from Ralph Sockman’s The Higher Happiness, Abingdon Press, 1950, 14.)
Image credits: http://www.commons.wikimedia.org (2); http://www.dailyverses.net (2); http://www.universe.roboflow.com (sahal); http://www.publicdomainpictures.com; http://www.pickpik.com.
(Revised and reblogged from July 21, 2016 while we prepared for and enjoyed the 3-day visit of old friends.)
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I hope you enjoyed your visit as much as I enjoyed your post!
Thank you, Linda. We enjoyed a grand time with these friends we’ve known for 42 years. Our time together was just too short, that’s all!
Obey God’s Word and rejoice! Thanks for your thought-provoking reflections, Nancy. 🙂
You’re welcome, Nancy. I’m so glad you find thoughts to ponder here!
🤗🙏
“…embrace God’s point of view as revealed in his Word, and learn about reality—the reality of his invisible, spiritual kingdom and its benefits.”
I love the way you weave together your stories, Nancy. I always learn something new and I am always blessed. 🤍🤍
Praise God he brings you something new and blesses your spirit, Deborah, whenever you’re able to visit here! Your kind words have warmed my heart.
Amen, Nancy!
Praise God and thank you, Mitch!
So beautifully written, Nancy! I love, “Yet it’s so easy to lose sight of this reality. Our sphere of contacts–family, friends, and coworkers –becomes our entire world.
The pursuit of happiness within this microcosm becomes our whole focus, fed by the illusion that living life “my way” is the ticket to happiness and satisfaction. ”
I saw from your comments that you were recently in my neck of the woods. I love knowing you were seeing some of our amazing places from your point of view!
So glad you found something to love here, Wynne. And yes, I did get to see some amazing sights while we visited the Seattle area. Mount Rainier especially is a humbling sight!
For sure! Thanks, Nancy!
I love the parallel and now will consider my will and my expectations as Shi Tzu thinking ❤️
Smiling here, Sharon!
My daughter’s family has a beloved Shi-Tzu named Finn. He is our grand-dog whenever they visit with us, reminding us that God has given us the choice to love the small and the meek among us and sometimes, put ourselves in his “paws.” What if we all were to live our lives with the same kind of love, mercy and understanding? It might not be perfect, but it would certainly mean that we took one step closer to God’s kingdom.
Thanks so much for this inspiration, Nancy. Blessings!
We could learn a lot from our family dogs! They’re welcoming, forgiving, affectionate, take joy in simple things, and more. You have a point, Martha: the world would be a better place if we acted more like our dogs!! 😁
What a wonderful post, Nancy. I especially liked “Help me outgrow the immaturity of illusions and embrace the truths of your reality!” Thank you.
Thank you, Dana. So glad you found something to ponder here!
This is eye-opening, Nancy. So often we live with tunnel vision, stuck in our own private view of the world.
Isn’t it wonderful that we have a God whose thoughts and ways are way beyond our grasp in scope and perfection–“as the heavens are higher than the earth” (Isaiah 55:9)!
I love the challenge of trying different perspectives to learn and love and also be humbled. I try to remember: mouse, eagle and star. All unique ways of viewing the world, a reading, a problem. The Mouse is up close and sees tiny details. The eagle gains perspective and sense of direction. The star sees the biggest picture with awe and wonder and again very humbling. Good post today, Nancy. You got me pondering….
What a great tool to encourage the consideration of various perspectives, Jean. Thank you for sharing it here!
Beautiful presentation! Though we are merely a microcosm in the universe, God sees each of us as individuals. We should value and delight in the blessing of having His Word (an instruction manual) to guide us and embrace the fact that His ways are always better than our own. He sees the entire picture of each one of us and has proven time after time that His perspective is always for our benefit.
Thank you, Cheri, and AMEN to each of your observations about God and his Word. How comforting to know our all-wise, all-powerful, completely competent Father has everything under control!
Very wise, as are all your posts, Nancy. ❤
Thank you Anna. Praise God for his inspiration and influence!
Nancy, as always a thought provoking and inspirational post!
I echo Pam’s comment, Nancy, and the museum piece is the perfect analogy.
Thank you Pam and Dave. As I said to Anna above, praise God for his inspiration and influence!
Nancy, you’ve done such a wonderful job of relating our perspective to the dogs’ to show how short sighted we often are! And how I wish I could see that exhibit at The Museum of Natural History. It reminds me of the “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” exhibits at Disney world in the ’90s!
Thank you, Stacey. I remember that exhibit at Disney World! (I wonder if we were there the same day?!) Our family visited a number of times over the years our kids were growing up, living in FL at the time.
It’s so cool to think that we may have been there the same day, isn’t it? I was just tickled to discover that one of my blog friends lived in a town in Florida where I once met up with a friend for lunch. I thought it was so cool that we may have actually crossed paths in real life before becoming blog friends. I guess it’s a small world after all.
“It’s a Small World after All!” LOVE it!