Where is the horizon? It depends on where you’re standing. I read a story about a family that lived in an old, wind-battered home on the edge of the sea. The delight of the home was a three-year-old boy who loved to splash in the waves and chase the seagulls. Only the setting sun could force the little boy off the beach and into the house for supper and bath and bedtime. He knew every grain of sand that connected his home with the ocean and lived with his eyes pointed toward the incoming tide.
One bright, clear day, the father needed to do some work on the roof. There was a ladder in the back hallway that led from the floor to a closed hatch in the ceiling. By climbing the ladder and opening the hatch, the roof was accessible. Since the little boy liked to help his father with projects almost as much as he loved the beach, he begged to accompany his dad to the top of the house. The father thought that, at three, the little boy was probably now old enough for such an adventure. So, up the ladder they both went.

The sun beamed into the open hatch. First the father went through the hatch, followed by his son. As the little boy emerged onto the roof, his eye caught the dance of light off of sand and surf. As his eyes adjusted, and he was able to focus, his dad heard a squeal of joy from the little boy. Suddenly, he was pointing and jumping up and down and talking faster than his tongue would allow. The little boy had spent his entire life looking up at birds in flight. Now, for the first time, there were gulls in flight below him. His experience of the sea, up until this moment, had been of waves taller than himself plunging to the beach. But now, he could see the expanse of the sea. Oh, the expanse! And looking far off, the little boy beheld that place where sea and sky came together—the horizon. And he realized, on some level, that the world was much bigger than he had imagined.

Sometimes it depends on our perspective. Are we looking up, or down? Do we have a big view, or a small one? As we all look toward unity, let us remember that gaining a new perspective is often the key to finding the horizon. And as we move toward that horizon, we will, little by little, be moving closer to one another. First, though, we have to place our eyes on unity.

- Glenn Thomas Carson

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