The Window

            Here is a parable you may have read. It is from CHICKEN SOUP FOR THE SOUL:

            There were once two men, both seriously ill, in the same small room of a great hospital. Quite a small room, it had one window looking out on the world. One of the men, as part of his treatment, was allowed to sit up in bed for an hour in the afternoon (something to do with draining the fluid from his lungs). His bed was next to the window.            

            But the other man had to spend all his time flat on his back. Every afternoon when the man next to the window was propped up for his hour, he would pass the time by describing what he could see outside.

            The window apparently overlooked a park where there was a lake. There were ducks and swans in the lake, and children came to throw them bread and sail model boats. Young lovers walked hand in hand beneath the trees, and there were flowers and stretches of grass, games of softball. And at the back, behind the fringe of trees, was a fine view of the city skyline.

            The man on his back would listen to the other man describe all of this, enjoying every minute. He heard how a child nearly fell into the lake, and how beautiful the girls were in their summer dresses. His friend’s descriptions eventually made him feel he could almost see what was happening outside.

            Then one fine afternoon, the thought struck him: Why should the man next to the window have all the pleasure of seeing what was going on? Why shouldn’t he get the chance?

            He felt ashamed, but the more he tried not to think like that, the worse he wanted a change. He’d do anything! One night as he stared at the ceiling, the other man suddenly woke up, coughing and choking, his hands groping for the button that would bring the nurse running. But the man watched without moving - even when the sound of breathing stopped.

            In the morning, the nurse found the other man dead, and quietly took his body away. As soon as it seemed decent, the man asked if he could be switched to the bed next to the window. So they moved him, tucked him in, and made him quite comfortable.            

            The minute they left, he propped himself up on one elbow, painfully and laboriously, and looked out the window. It faced a blank wall.

            Two men, two attitudes, two perspectives on life.

Story source: A 2nd Helping of Chicken Soup for the Soul Copyright 1995 by Jack Canfield and Mark Victor Hansen

My Lucky Day

            The following story I found in a bulletin article written by Don R. Williams over twenty years ago. It was so encouraging that I decided to include both the story and Don’s application. Enjoy:

                                                            MY LUCKY DAY

". . . this is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it. "  (Psalms 118:24)

            Garland Chapman, principal of Robert E. Lee High School in Midland, Texas, relates an experience during his days as a grade school principal.  A little second grade boy started out the morning by falling from the school bus and hitting his head on the concrete--required three stitches to close the gash! 

            Recess proved a little unfortunate as he and another boy ran together -result:  two of his teeth were loosened and a lip busted. 

            During the afternoon he fell and broke an arm.  Mr. Chapman decided to take the boy home immediately before anything else could happen. 

            They were riding together when the principal noticed the little guy clutching something in his hand.  "What do you have?” the principal asked. 

            "A quarter," answered the boy. 

            "Where did you get it?"  Mr. Chapman asked. 

            "I found it on the playground today," explained the little man.  Then he smiled and with an excited voice exclaimed, "You know, Mr. Chapman, I have never found a quarter before.  This is my lucky day!"

            So much is dependent not on how the day looks at us--but on how we look at the day.  Some people miss seeing the roses behind a broken fence.  Every day has its problems, but faith can turn them into blessings.  Each beautiful butterfly looks rather uneventful at its beginning-but what a change the day makes.

--Don R. Williams

Two for the Plate

           One form of ingratitude is doing everything for oneself. It's like the little girl who won two dollars for doing memory work and she put it in the offering plate. The preacher saw that and said, “I'm sure you'll receive a blessing for that.”

            She said, “Yeah, now maybe God will let me do something that I want to do.”             Some people are that way. They think, “Okay, God, that was a tough thing that I did for you; now, surely, you will not let anything bad happen to me.”

            Jesus suffered shame on the cross. We should do everything we can to serve him out of our gratitude toward him, not his gratitude toward us: 11 The high priest carries the blood of animals into the Most Holy Place where he offers this blood for sins. But the bodies of the animals are burned outside the camp.12 So Jesus also suffered outside the city to make his people holy with his own blood.13 So let us go to Jesus outside the camp, holding on as he did when we are abused (Heb. 13:11-13.)

The Dot

           Here’s a convicting story. A preacher was once addressing a group of men. He took a large, blank sheet of paper, placed a black dot in the center with his pen, and held it up before the men.

            “What do you see?” he asked.

            One person responded quickly, “I see a black mark.”

            “Right,” the preacher replied. “What else do you see?”

            Total silence.

            “Don’t you see anything other than the dot?” he asked.

            No reply.

            “I’m really surprised that you have completely overlooked the most important thing of all—the rest of the sheet of paper.”

            His application was this. Life is full of blessings and possibilities. Too often, we allow the relatively fewer and smaller, dot-like disappointments or painful experiences to distract us.

            In our lives, we have so much to be thankful for—and so much possibility with what is yet to come.

           

19 Praise the Lord; praise God our savior! For each day he carries us in his arms (Psalm 68:19.) NLT

Source: Our Daily Bread

What is Happiness?

            Several years ago, a 15-year-old girl wrote to the advice columnist, Abigail Van Buren:

Dear Abby,

            Happiness is knowing that your parents won't kill you if come home late. Happiness is having your own bedroom. Happiness is getting the telephone call you've been praying for. Happiness is getting good grades and making your parents proud of you. Happiness is being a member of a popular circle. Happiness is 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 weeks later, “Dear Abby” published a response from a 13-year-old girl:

Dear Abby,

            Happiness is being able to walk. Happiness is being able to talk. Happiness is being to see. Unhappiness is reading a letter from a 15-year-old girl who can do all three things and still says that she is unhappy.

            I can see, I can hear, but I can't walk.

            (signed)

            13 and happy

Look!

•                Look around and be distressed.

•                Look inside and be depressed.

•                Look at Jesus and be at rest.

--Corrie Ten Boom

Bad Groundhog Day

At our staff meeting the other day, someone told us about a person, he saw on THE TODAY SHOW, who maintained little short-term memory. Every day, she woke up to a new world. She retained little from previous experiences.

We were discussing the implications of that, when someone else said, “What if you had her condition, and each day you woke up, was a bad day?” I gnawed on that a moment, and then it hit me. I know people who do experience that. Everyday IS a bad day. It is a negative day.

For some reason, maybe abuse, maybe a bad childhood, but for some reason, the individual wakes up and decides to experience the same negative day—every day. 

I pity people who live that life.

Attitude is Everything

In Joe Navarro’s new book LOUDER THAN WORDS, he writes that in Tampa, Florida, you will not find a statue dedicated to a war hero like you would in other locales. Nor will you find a plaque dedicated to them.

You will only find one plaque in downtown Tampa, Florida. It is at the corner of East Madison and North Franklin streets.

The plaque is dedicated to a woman named Mary Hadfield Watt. Mary Hadfield Watt was not famous. She never invented anything. She never cured a disease.

As a matter of fact, Mary Hadfield Watt sold fruit on the corner of East Madison and North Franklin streets. So, why does Tampa have a plaque in her honor? Because she had a marvelous attitude. When she died of cancer at the age of 33, the people there felt her loss deeply. So they decided to honor her.

Attitude is everything. 

The Cannon Inside

Years ago, I heard Rick Atchley in sermon revive a story from the literature of Victor Hugo. A sailing ship is caught in a storm out on the high seas. The waves toss the ship back and forth when, suddenly, the sailors hear this terrible sound coming from beneath the deck. They know immediately what it is. A cannon has broken lose from it's moorings and is rolling back and forth pounding the walls of the ship.

The sailors realize the cannon is much more dangerous than the waves. If someone does not secure it, it will bust a hole in the side of the ship, and they will sink. Two sailors risk their lives and, under great duress, they use their strength and finally secure the cannon.

In life, it's not the high winds nor the waves blowing us around that destroy us. It's what's inside. You cannot always choose when it's going to rain or when there's going to be a storm, but you can choose how you react to that storm.

My fellow staff member, Tim Henderson, often tells people he counsels, “It’s not what happens to you that matters. What matters is how you react to what happens to you.”

I have found in my nearly half a century that one of the most important components in living is one we can absolutely control. This component can be summarized in one word—attitude.