Of God and Trees

Tonight I had a conversation with a friend about God. This is a fairly common occurrence with the majority of my friends, but this conversation in particular is stuck in my head. I find myself chewing on ideas as a cow chews upon it's cud. As I digest, I hope to share some ideas that are leaving a bit of residue.
Our conversation, or at least this portion of it, was focused on the variables of our Christian tradition and how we, as humans, attribute God with our wants and desires. We talked about how our perspective of Christ changes depending on what we wish him to be. In someways I found myself taken aback, defensive, wanting to claim that this as impossible. But all the while, I knew that I often attribute God to those things I wish him to be...the things I need him to be.
During the conversation I sat on my porch swing gazing out at my backyard. Listening to my friend on the other line, I glanced up at the massive tree that sits just on the other side of the fence that separates my yard from my neighbors. Looking up at the tree, I realized something. I have looked at that tree my whole life, marveling at its design, the intricate weave of its branches, the way it stands there with a certain wisdom about it. Although I have seen it, observed it and watched it since the first day I came to live at that house, I have only seen that one side of the tree. I have never seen it from any other angle except for that of the view from my back yard. I have only seen it from this perspective because, for one, I cannot physically see the whole tree at once. Even from a birds eye view I would fail to be able to observe it's roots or into its core. Secondly, I have never rounded the block to attempt to view it from another perspective. There has never been a pressing need to see it from another direction, in a different light.
What if God is like that. For one, we cannot physically comprehend God in God's entirety. Our human minds cannot fathom the depths of his wisdom, the oceans of his mercy and love, the scope of his being. And secondly, what if our human understanding of God is a matter of perspective? Can I see God in a way from my perspective without truly knowing how another may understand God? I think so. This does not mean, however, that Truth is a matter of perspective. This tree is a tree, there is no changing that. In an even more concrete way, God is still God, unchanging. He is the same from day to day. All of the "variables" of Faith are a matter of perspective, but the Truth, the unchanging God who is the same today as he was yesterday and will be tomorrow, is still found in the reality that is God and the reality of the death and resurrection of his Son.
So, maybe tomorrow I will venture to the other side of the fence and see what that tree looks like from my neighbors yard, after all, it is a beautiful tree and I have come to find a great comfort in it. I desire to see it from as many perspectives as possible. If I could, I would ask a worm what it looks like from underground and a bird what it looks like from high above. In that same way, if I pursue God in his muti-faceted being, how much more will I appreciate who God is? Regardless of my perspective or the variables that my perspective allows for, that does not change what is ultimately True.