Proximity and Perspective

In Elder Gary E. Stevenson's General Conference talk Spiritual Eclipse, he spoke of the solar eclipse we experienced in August 2017, when the moon passed in front of and almost completely blocked out the sun. He noted that "Although the sun is 400 times larger than the moon, it is also 400 times farther away from the earth. From earth’s perspective, this geometry makes the sun and moon appear to be the same size."

The concept of perspective played a key role in Elder Stevenson's talk:

In the same manner that the very small moon can block the magnificent sun, extinguishing its light and warmth, a spiritual eclipse can occur when we allow minor and troublesome obstructions—those we face in our daily lives—to get so close that they block out the magnitude, brightness, and warmth of the light of Jesus Christ and His gospel.

It's difficult to imagine how big the sun is because it's so far away. With the moon being so much closer, it looks to be about the same size as the sun. Similarly, it's hard to imagine how great God's plan is since many of its implications are practically an eternity away. Our everyday concerns, being much closer at hand, seem just as great causes of consideration as our eternal concerns, when the truth is that our eternal concerns are actually far more important.

We should be careful to not let the proximity of earthly matters overshadow the magnitude of eternal matters. It's true that we have to live in the now and deal with the present, but we should try not to forget that eternity is greater than it sometimes seems and that it won't always be so far away. One day, eternity will be our present, and then our mortality will be in the distant past. One day, our earthly concerns will seem as small and insignificant as they really are. In the meantime, we should try to put things into an eternal perspective so our tiny, earthly issues don't eclipse matters of great, eternal significance.