As you ponder my question, let me ask another: “Does size matter?” I’ve made reference to both “big picture” and “short sighted”, don’t both expression carry with them a value judgment related to size?
I am writing my blog this morning with the lyrics to Ray Steven’s “Everything Is Beautiful” rolling around in my head:
“There is none so blind as he who will not see.
We must not close our minds; we must let our thoughts be free.
For every hour that passes by, we know the world gets a little bit older.
It's time to realize that beauty lies in the eyes of the beholder”.
Haven’t you always heard that “seeing is believing?” Yet how often do we form our perceptions of reality based on limited exposure or even a total misperception of what we believe we are seeing. From a mental health perspective, seeing something that isn’t there is sometimes referred to as a hallucination.
In contrast to a hallucination, a mirage is an actual optical phenomenon that can be photographed on camera. The image is real, but the actual presence of a small body of water in the distance is an optical illusion. How many Western movies of covered wagon’s rolling across Death Valley did you see growing up where travelers out of water excitedly drove their teams of horses faster to get to the body of water in the distance to subsequently realize the water wasn’t there?
In cartoons, a mirage is often depicted as a peaceful, lush oasis lying in the shade of swaying palm trees, but in reality it is much more likely to look like a pool of water. There is a scientific explanation for the illusion related to the way light is bent through air at different temperatures. Since cold air is denser than warm air it has a greater refractive (bent) index. That means that as light passes down from cool to hot air, it gets bent upwards towards the denser air and away from the ground. To one’s eyes, these distorted rays seem to be coming from the ground, so you perceive a refracted image of the sky on the ground. This looks just like a reflection on the surface of a pool of water, which can easily cause confusion.
One of my closest and dearest friends is a friend from the first grade. We obviously go back a very long way in time. Some might even call it light years. He perceptively knows through years of experience that my perception of reality isn’t always in sync with the facts.
In response to my blog yesterday when I made reference to a restaurant in Belton with the view of a small lake, he offered gentle redirection. I should have written that he cleverly offered gentle redirection. The way he crafted perceptions related to size was absolutely brilliant and factual.
Shortly after he and his wife were married, he took a job in Big Lake, Texas. If you’ve ever been to Big Lake, the concept is a little (pardon the pun) fishy. I like the way he expressed it: “Big Lake is right in the heart of Flat Ugly.” Big Lake was named for the big lake in close proximity. He made this observation: When you look at the lake you wonder how in the world could anyone could mistake it for big. As lakes go it is small. About a foot deep on a good day and covers about twelve hundred acres at most. Most days less.
“Big Lake is not your ordinary lake though, it is a playa lake (A natural body of water with no inlet or outlet). It may have water in the morning and be bone dry that afternoon or vise versa. Water rises and falls from the ground water under the lake and this particular body of water is the largest playa lake in the state of Texas. Therefore the name of Big Lake”.
Okay, so here comes the gentle redirection. It was absolutely brilliant, insightful and lovingly provided. Oh, I guess I should add that my friend (from 1st grade) and his wife (friend from 3rd grade) live on the lake I referenced in my blog yesterday. He offered wise counsel and did so in the most gentle and loving manner.
“This morning, Mary and I started our day with breakfast on the lower back deck. The food was good, the company better, birds singing and our view of the “small lake” you mentioned this morning was beautiful. An absolutely gorgeous day.
“In Romans 11:25 Paul starts out…………I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery…………So Donnie, that small lake at Belton is 124 feet deep at the restaurant, is 12,300 surface acres in size, covers a little over twenty square miles and has 136 miles of beautiful shoreline with miles of white limestone cliffs with large oaks and junipers. Looking across the lake from the restaurant if you follow the opposite shoreline our house is seven miles upriver by boat and you can continue about twenty more miles until the way is blocked by a huge log jam on the Leon River. Follow the near shoreline and it will take you about the same distance up the Cow House Creek branch of the lake and deep into Ft. Hood.
“It is a mystery to me how you can look at the same thing we see and mistake it for small, but then I remembered, you live at the Edge of Heaven and from your perspective everything else is FLAT UGLY and SMALL. Can’t help yourself.
Times at the Dead Fish were good.
I love ya brother, get yourself home safe and hope to see y’all before long,
Wayne”.
What a loving and thoughtful response. I guess I should add, if I ever move from the edge of Heaven, it will be because I’ve won the lottery and bought a home on a lake somewhere. In reality, I’d even settle for a small lake. Do you remember the movie: “On Golden Pond?” There is something about living on a body of water that is good for the soul. I may live on the Edge of Heaven, but my friends live on a lake. Color that anyway you want, but it always comes out Paradise.
All My Best!
Don