Sometimes the elements of our lives get viewed through a macro lens.  We zero in on a particular point in the foreground, setting our sights on its center to the exclusion of all else around it.  All other details become obscured, and we only see clearly that upon which we have focused.

This narrowed focus can be enlightening.  Compelling.  Motivating.  We use it when our creativity is firing and we are caught up in the energy.  When a particular item or person in our lives needs singular attention.  When urgency or excitement demands exclusivity of our time and energy.  When a deadline looms and the push is on to finish that which we’ve begun.

Like, say, when we work night and day to complete a book proposal in time for a writer’s conference.

Such myopic focus, however, cannot be sustained long term.  We lose sight of the big picture–our vision becomes short-sighted and we no longer see anything other than that which is right in front of our faces.  The horizon is lost to us, let alone those standing within arm’s reach.

It is every photographer’s dream to have a wide variety of lenses in their bag, ranging in focal length and purpose.  While I’ve always been one to dream of a high-quality macro lens that captures the tiniest details with amazing clarity, I know full well it cannot be the only lens I take with me on a hike or I will miss the landscapes.  The panoramas.  The horizons.  Some things can only be done justice by a wide angle lens.  The Grand Canyon.  The New York City skyline.  The Milky Way.

Sometimes the best lens is one which allows a little bit of both perspectives, while not too extreme on either end.  It gives you the ability to switch focus as is necessary, whether your attention be on the veins of a maple leaf or the full view of Yosemite’s majestic valley.  If you could only carry one lens with you, such a lens would be the one that would ensure capturing it all.

I’ve spent the last month attempting to work with such a lens.  The outcome has been a 120-page document outlining the two-to-five-year plan for my writing career.  I’ve looked up from that which was right in front of my face for a time, and have looked long and hard at the big picture.  From the smallest details to the most grand of ideas, I’ve pictured them in print and put them down on paper.  Finished today.  Started today.

Soon, I will focus on the newsletter.  Then on updating the blog.  Then perhaps I will go big picture again, afterward shifting focus once more back to the proposal.  Then to a second proposal.  And then to a third.  The lens adjusts.  The perspective changes.  Again.  And again.  And again.  I’ve grabbed the right lens for the job.  And it will keep me seeing what I need to see as each new horizon reveals itself.

Don’t get me wrong–I’d still love a macro lens.  But there are times for that tightness of focus, and times for a broader angle.  The ability to switch gives us the flexibility we need to get the best shots–to give life our best shot–the vast majority of the time.

I don’t know about you, but that’s a prayer I’d love to have prayed over me.  The ability to have the right focus at the right moment, that I might give life my best shot.

Shall we pray it for one another?

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