Growing in Jesus, by Fr. Father Robert DeGrandis, another anointed book by a popular charismatic priest who has traveled the world, now writes on how Jesus views you, how you should go to Him, how to grow in the Bible, how to heal your self-image, and potent prayers -- including the "prayer of helplessness." CLICK HERE

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CORRECT VIEW OF LIFE COMES THROUGH PRAYER OF SOLITUDE THAT BRINGS PEACE, 'BIG PICTURE'

Too often we don't see the "big picture" because we're so immersed in smaller images, little snapshots, the little picture.

We get bound to detail.

We're so focused on what's small that we have to strain to see it, and when we strain, there is stress; there is tension. (We are microscopic, not victorious.) We are what we see and when what we see is small, so are we.

Is this the reason for tension in your life?

Throughout the Bible, we note how it serves us best to focus on the larger perspective. Noah saw the world from that boat. Moses looked out from the top of a mountain. He kept his eyes on the Promised Land (which one day opened up for him, hugely!). 

Are you a big picture type or a small picture person? Do you let the trivia get to you? Do you fret over every little detail instead of simply tending to it with diligence and leaving the rest to God ("Jesus, I trust in You; Mary, take over")?

The Bible is a "big picture" book. We see so much prefigured in it. We see how often the number "forty" comes into play. We see that Noah was on the boat for forty days and nights and Solomon reigned for forty years and Moses was on that mountain for forty days and nights in the mist and Jesus spent the forty days in the desert. He saw the whole world from the parapet of the temple and rejected the snares of materialism, soon to rise above death itself (true eyesight!).

It is after the solitude of the desert that there is often revelation.

"After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in the flame of a burning thorn bush," says Scripture (Acts 7:30). Prayer clears away the clutter. Ask your angel -- who sees from high reaches.

When Moses saw the big picture -- when his followers believed -- they were sustained by a food that was supernatural for forty years (until reaching that land of honey and milk). This is the manna -- which prefigured the Eucharist (likewise supernatural and sustaining).

Astronauts will tell you that after going into space, they have an entirely different view of life -- a brand new perspective. They saw more. They were able to note the planet in its splendid entirety. Suddenly, they don't sweat the small stuff. They realize that there are no big deals on earth (but to serve God).

That's the big picture.

We can do the same in prayer as we rise above physicality. Otherwise, we are bound to the earth. We are living the life of fear and pressure and drudgery. The big picture is Heaven and they say upon death the vista is so huge and knowledge so instant that we have the answers to all the questions as fast as we can think of them.

"People need to know that there is life after a trauma," said a woman who "died" and came back (Heather Ellis of New Zealand). "There is life after death and you will never ever be given anything you cannot handle."

Someone once said, "When we choose not to focus on what is missing from our lives but are grateful for the abundance that's present.. we experience Heaven on earth."

That's the big picture, which brings peace -- and we reach it by praying, which transcends those niggling little disputes, those worrisome bills, those prospects that seem so dim when perceived with myopia.

Don't let life be a trivial pursuit. Raise your eyes above the horizon. Raise them above the clouds. Raise them to the Cross. See through the mist. This Lent, see as Jesus saw, beyond suffering.

He didn't concentrate on the pain that was coming. He didn't focus on every lash He would receive. He knew that beyond it was the eternal. When suffering comes, embrace the cross and lift it up and down and carry it to develop the muscle of perspicacity. See the Promised Land. See beyond the desert and the wilderness.

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