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Being thankful
8/18/2012
By Nigel Wallace
You can choose to believe what you want to, but I believe in my own faith in the almighty and that has less to do with me and more in the example set by others around me.
By my own honest account, I am a very weak vessel. I am prone to complaint when things go wrong, but recently I have been forced to forget my own issues as I have been consumed by “bad” news from many in my inner circle.
Perspective is a funny thing, and I have learned over the years to welcome the adversity in life so I can have a better perspective and in turn strive to be a better human being. Here’s what I’m talking about.
A few nights ago I was watching the popular HGTV programme House Hunters and the couple on television was having a hard time finding a house to match their $250 000 budget. The reason for this difficulty was not a shortage of available properties, but instead stemmed from the fact that the couple had been taking care of a million dollar property for the young lady’s mother for the past few months. From their perspective, life was difficult because their US$250 000 couldn’t buy them the luxury to which they had become accustomed.
That’s one perspective. From where I was sitting, I was dreaming of the equivalent $500 000 budget to get the ball rolling on this side of the pond.
I may not be complaining about the budget for a house, but I sure am complaining about a host of other things regardless of how bright my life is. The sad part is that it isn’t even active complaint, just subconscious disappointment. I guess my challenge is that I am extremely competitive and therefore I wind up in mini-contests with complete strangers, even if they are fictional characters in a book or movie... Hey, I’m working on it, don’t be too quick to judge.
Now for another perspective. Recently, an old family friend went through a significant trial when her young son was in hospital with a stroke. She has been asking for constant prayer for her little one, and has ended almost every single post on Facebook about the process with the words “PS babies and kids have strokes”.
In other news, a very old and dear friend of mine has been going through a tough time with a very sick (yet to be diagnosed) wife and two young children. He has been standing strong amidst the obvious stress of this situation, and his faith, as far as he is letting on, has never been stronger. I’m going to be praying with him in a few moments, since in these trying times, there’s little else we can do, especially when we aren’t doctors. However, and here’s the punchline, he himself was recently admitted to hospital for five days after one of his lung’s collapsed by 20%.
In retrospect, what I find darkly comedic is my friend’s words to the doctor holding his X-Ray. “Sorry, I can’t go to hospital, I have a sick wife and two children at home.” It’s funny the things we think of when our health is at risk. It’s also extremely admirable that some men, regardless of their circumstance, know what it really means to be a man, a husband and a father.
I don’t mean to be dark, morbid or depressing in my accounts, but I do mean to give perspective to anyone out there who needed it as much as I did. We all go through hard times, and we all go through those moments where we question “the plan”, but let’s be honest, the easiest thing to do is push forward and forget those times when things brighten up. Then one day, out of the blue, you are complaining about the US$250 000 you have to spend.
Life is full of trials and obstacles, let’s do our best not to look at the blessings and see them as something else.
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