When in doubt, zoom out. This is your daily message from Chad number 587 and this message is dedicated to the remarkable Dan Bertsche.

Perspective is provided in the big picture. Damian Gerke tells the story while vacationing in California, visiting the Sequoia trees near Yosemite National Park. A cross-section of a tree had lived for hundreds of years. The tree’s rings were clearly visible, and some showed up more than others. One series of rings was particularly dark. It turned out that there was a forest fire one of those years, and that the growth of the tree was affected for several growing seasons. The tree’s growth was hindered for those seasons of trial by fire, but relative to the tree’s total picture of life, it was only a minor discoloration on a sea of normal and healthy growth rings.

You may be in a difficult season right now. Trials in life are inevitable. They are not the end of the road, just a bend in the road. Adversity is a sliver, a thin ring on the big picture of your life. I hope you can step back and see the times of trouble are a blip in the totality of your life. Fresh seasons always show up. Stay planted. Keep growing, even if the growth is slower. This is how you need to talk to yourself in adversity. When in doubt, zoom out. Think in decades not days.