Perspective

I heard a pastor speak recently about a Dear Abby column he saw many years ago. The letter and response he shared followed like this:

Dear Abby, Happiness is knowing that your parents won’t almost kill you if you come home a little late. Happiness is having your own bedroom. Happiness is having parents that trust you. Happiness is getting the telephone call you’ve been praying for. Happiness is getting good grades and having parents who don’t fight. Happiness is knowing that you’re as well dressed as anybody. Happiness is something I don’t have. Signed, 15 and Unhappy.

A few days later, the column carried this response:

Dear Abby, Happiness is being able to walk. Happiness is being able to talk. Happiness is being able to see. Happiness is being able to hear. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year-old girl who can do all these things and still says she isn’t happy. I can talk. I can see. I can hear. But I can’t walk. Signed, Thirteen and Happy.

So often it is a matter of perspective, isn’t it? The truth is, we all have struggles. We all face challenges, experience failures, and wrestle with weaknesses. But at the same time, none of us have to look far to see that we are blessed beyond belief.

Dietrich Bonhoeffer once wrote, “In ordinary life, we hardly realize that we receive a great deal more than we give and that it is only with gratitude that life becomes rich.”

Let us pray: God of Amazing Grace, open our hearts again to see the rich flow of blessings streaming into our lives. May we notice and appreciate even the simple gifts – food and sunshine; flowers and rain; the ability to give and to love. Move deep inside us until a well-spring of gratitude bubbles up and overflows into joy. We ask in Jesus’ name. Amen.