“BIG PICTURE/LITTLE PICTURE”

by Dr. Susan Nettleton

Much of living spiritually involves achieving a balance of the big picture and the little picture. The big picture is the whole of Creation — that great cosmic machinery, the full expression of God, the underlying Order of Life. The little picture is our individual, personal world: our families, friends, workplace, environment, our'homes and households. It is a powerful and comforting thing to remember that our personal lives and relationships are geared to the larger Reality of Life. On one hand, we will never understand the vastness of Creation: we know the whole only through the parts that we grow to love and care for, and maintain — the details of our “little picture," where we live our daily life. On the other hand, the intuitive recognition that this little picture is inseparable from the Cosmic Scheme gives us strength and assurance so that our lives do not become a personal burden and responsibility. We discover God in the business of daily life and in the people sitting right across the table from us, and out of the great mystery of Life that is God we draw our next breath, we find the unexpected solution, and we know exactly what to do.