We took Benjamin to church at the cathedral. On the way I explained that he would not be invited to light candles, as he does in the informal service. He asked why. 

 

"The candles are pretty far away on the chancel and are high up enough that little kids can't reach."

 

I did not mention, nor did Ben that he is almost six feet tall and would have no trouble, even without resorting to tip toes. He accepted the disappointment with grace. 

 

The minister spoke about grasshoppers. Well, he described how life can look from two inches up. When the Children of Israel forayed into the promised land some of them had reservations. Not the kind that means you have a bed waiting for you. The kind that means you don't want to go at all. 

 

"We were in our own eyes as grasshoppers, and so we were in their eyes." Numbers 15

 

The trouble is, that vantage point has its limitations. If I asked an insect to describe the cloudy formations above the trees, or the landscape just beyond the crest of the next hill, he would not be forthcoming. This isn't from unwillingness or deceit. He just can't see it. 

 

The land of Canaan was prosperous and rich with food. But through a bug's eyes, the bad outweighed the good. I reflected on a time when my first reaction to a situation was dubiousness. Maybe when I am feeling too small to face an unknown, it would benefit me to get off the ground. Raise my perspective, and think in terms of how this might look five months from now. Five years. A century. That can jiggle free those initial impressions that keep me stuck.

 

As it turns out, the Children of Israel did enter the land God prepared for them. There were battles to be sure, but they were fed, led, and protected on the way. And when they joyfully entered their new home there was a bed waiting for them.