Skip to main content

Perspective

 

Yesterday I was just upset.  Our family Come Follow Me lesson on contentment (no kidding) had been a disaster.  My husband fell asleep during Come Follow Me.  My boys launched into a sock-throwing war.  Everyone was making rude and sarcastic comments.  Did NO ONE in the family appreciate my efforts to prepare this Come Follow Me lesson on contentment and gratitude?  I was certainly NOT content and I let my sarcastic remarks and tears brighten everyone's day.

I felt prompted to go over to the computer.  I decided to go onto Facebook and look up a friend I had not seen in a while. We attended church together growing up but her family had been hit by extreme bad luck. They had three little boys and a girl.  Two of the children were pretty normal but the other two boys were severely handicapped and required vast amounts of time and attention.  Not long after we got to know the Howes family they discovered that David - a brilliant former Rhodes scholar - had Alzheimer's disease.  He had to be institutionalized in a nursing home at a relatively young age.  The family moved to Utah.  Shortly after their move, it was discovered that the mother had cancer.  She passed away shortly thereafter leaving my friend Molly a young orphan with two severely handicapped brothers.

There was Molly. She looked so pure and kind as before.  I discovered that she was married and had one son.  And as lucky would have it, he had the same rare disease as her brothers.  But her Facebook page was not complaining or angry. It was full of joy, happiness, and gratitude.  The one that hit me was a simple post. I AM GRATEFUL FOR EVERYTHING IN MY LIFE.

Wow.

That one hurt.  Talk about thinking telestial.  


Comments

Popular posts from this blog

God Isn't Finished With Him Yet

 When my husband was in graduate school we attended a meeting where a distinguished man spoke. He had been successful professionally, was happily married to a lovely woman, and was the father of a very large family. He spoke eloquently of his life and at one point, he posted a picture of himself as a teenager in his presentation. A wild-looking young man with long, fringed hair flashed on the screen. This picture looked nothing like the clean-cut, well-dressed man before us. The man related that in high school he had gone through a rebellious phase and this haircut reflected that time and attitude. Once, a woman had made a comment to his mother about her son's outlandish haircut and ways. His mother, irked by the comment, retorted "Maybe, God isn't finished with him yet!" I loved that phrase. This mother saw potential in her son and had hope for his future. She knew that with God, change is always possible. Another mother who I love is St. Augustine...

How to Avoid Being a "Screaming Monkey Parent"

This photo is hitting a little too close to home.  Especially in the summertime with all of our children at home.  Yes, we love our children but we don't always feel capable of parenting them.  In our home this summer we have five boys, one girl, and untold numbers of little friends tracking dirt through our house.  We can go from nice to frazzled, bleary-eyed, and ranting in about an hour.  And often it is our spouses or children who pay the price.  So, what can we do to keep our cool when the days get long and hot?  One key, according to Psychology Today  is prevention.  And prevention means managing our stress before  it gets to epic levels. Here are some things you can do to recharge your batteries so that you don't fizzle out - and hey, you can remember these things using the word "recharge."  Now that's an added bonus! Rest : Go to bed before 10:30.  Get seven to eight hours of sleep.  Our tempers flare more easily ...

Where Mother Is...

A while ago I was trying to make an important decision about a significant opportunity in my  life. It would have been a dream come true for many people and it seemed too good to pass up. The only problem was that no matter how I tried to make it work, it would require a significant amount of time away from my growing family. I prayed, stewed and turned it over in my mind. One day I was driving home and I looked up to the mountain. Something caught my attention that I had never noticed before. Going down the mountain was a line of trees surrounded by brown – brown being the common color in our arid climate. I knew they were following a water line and that that was the only way for trees to grow in this mountain desert. And then suddenly I had a thought flash into my mind:  “where mother is, children grow.” This was a decision maker for me. I knew that as much as I wanted this opportunity and as much as it “made sense” in every conceivable way, it was not right because I would ...