The Big Picture

January 4, 1999
In 1987, pediatric neurosurgeon Carson performed a successful operation that separated two twins born joined at their heads. He has been recognized worldwide for his extraordinary ability to perform intricate medical procedures like intrauterine brain surgery in his dedication to saving lives. But, as he says in this spiritual memoir, he wasn't always so successful. Carson recounts his young life growing up fatherless and with limited opportunities in Detroit. The change in Carson's life came very early, when his mother decided that her children could succeed in spite of their circumstances. Carson began reading two books a week in the third grade and was soon so hungry for knowledge that he read anything he could get his hands on. He performed so well in high school that he was accepted at Yale, and he is now the director of pediatric neurosurgery at Johns Hopkins. Success, he says, is a matter of focusing on the big picture and not the details. So often when we concentrate on the tiny details of life, we forget that God has a larger purpose for us. Using anecdotes from his medical career and scattering biblical illustrations throughout, Carson asserts that we can get a glimpse of the big picture by viewing hardship as an advantage, overcoming a victim mentality and determining priorities. He proposes that if we stop periodically and ask ourselves three questions--When my life is over, what do I want to be remembered for? What do I want to be doing five, 10, and 20 years from now? What do I want to be sure I am not doing five, 10, and 20 years from now?--we will have an idea about the ways that the Big Picture can direct our lives. Carson's lively storytelling will capture the hearts of his readers.