The Astronaut Who Learned to See Differently

When Scott Kelly returned to Earth after 340 consecutive days aboard the International Space Station in March 2016, reporters asked what surprised him most about coming home. His answer was unexpected. It wasn't the gravity pulling at his bones or the overwhelming noise of Houston traffic. It was how small everything looked that used to seem so urgent. The office politics, the petty disagreements, the anxious striving — all of it had been rearranged in his mind by a year of watching sunrises from orbit, sixteen every single day, each one painting the thin blue line of atmosphere that holds every human life.

Kelly told interviewers he could never see the world the same way again. Having lived above, he carried that perspective into everything below.

This is exactly what Paul describes in Colossians 3. "Since you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above." Paul is not telling us to ignore the earth or float through life with our heads in the clouds. He is saying that once you have truly seen reality from God's vantage point — once you have grasped that your life is hidden with Christ in the Almighty — you can never look at your Monday morning the same way again. The grudge loses its grip. The anxiety loosens. The desperate grasping for status and security fades, because you have already glimpsed the glory that is coming. You are living from a higher orbit now.