I was born up north.  I was born within sight of the frozen and windswept edge of Lake Michigan.  It was late January in Charlevoix, MI.  My mom told me that it was an incredibly cold and windy day, and the huge ice floes were piled up on the shoreline.  I have a northern attitude.

But for a week every year, Linda and I have driven the 10 hours to East Tennessee for a visit to the Great Smoky Mountains.  I love the mountains.  I love the waterfalls.  I love the rocky streams.  I love hunting for salamanders.  And I love the change in perspective.

As a pastor I understandably get local in my thinking.  I get focused on this little slice of the world.  I will grow myopic.  And the positive to this is the joy I have in this little flock that the Lord has called me to.  The downside is the way I can begin to eat, sleep, and dream this small community.

There is something about the majesty of mountains that puts me in my place.  There is something about slowing down and watching the sunset over the lines of peaks and valleys that calms me. There are places where God says to me, “I’ve got this!”  Without these pauses I will be tempted to think that it is all up to me.  Without pausing to reflect in rest, will just keep on working.

But God gives us times of rest to regain perspective.  To remind us that we are not merely placed here as worker bees, but we are also here as ‘enjoyer bees.’

The Great Smoky Mountains remove me from my routine perspective; my northern, sometimes icy, sometimes blazing hot, wooded, huge lake, busy, church-life perspective.  Different is good.  There are bigger things going on than local.  I am more than merely a pastor.  And life is more than what I can do.

I am grateful for a regular annual reset.  I am back this year refreshed, rejoicing, and ready to dive back in.  I may have a northern attitude, but it is tempered by occasionally southern moments.  Getting out and getting away, keeps me wanting to come back.  Without these breaks, I might just burn out.  But I am even more certain that without these breaks, I would become increasingly narrow in my perspective.

Where do you go to broaden your perspective?  I head to the mountains and they have never disappointed.