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Today's
Quotation:
The
little troubles and worries of life, so many of which we
meet,
may be as stumbling blocks in our way, or we may
make them
stepping-stones to a noble character and to
Heaven. Troubles
are often the tools by which God
fashions us for better things.
Henry
Ward Beecher
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Today's
Meditation:
Perspective
is one of the most important aspects of our lives. How
we see things determines more of our happiness or
unhappiness, positive or negative feelings, than we might
ever imagine. One person's undefeatable obstacle is
another person's stumbling block; what I see as an insult
another person may see as a funny joke. The way we
react to things is usually a reflection of how we've seen
them.
We
all have troubles. Some of our troubles are easy to
work our way through, such as a flat tire--we simply replace
the flat. But other troubles, such as the very
important meeting that we've missed because of the flat
tire, seem to be more drastic, and much more
important. Maybe we'll even get fired for missing the
meeting, and that would be an awful problem. Or would
it?
If
we can maintain a healthy perspective, we can see that any
obstacle put in our way is there to help us learn and to
grow, to develop our character and our ability to help
others. After all, once we go through a certain
obstacle or problem, we now have experience, and that's
something we can use to help someone else who may be going
through something similar. If we look at our problems
and obstacles as tests--life tests which help to form us,
not tests that try to determine how much we've learned--then
we can use that perspective to help us to get through them
in a way that's positive and constructive.
A
failed relationship will teach us much about ourselves and
what we do and don't like in other people. A job that
is difficult and unpleasant will teach us much about what we
can and can't do well, and what we truly enjoy and don't
enjoy doing. A death of a loved one can help us to
reflect on what that person meant to us and to appreciate
those who are still with us. The list of lessons we
can learn from setbacks is endless, of course, but we have
to be ready and willing to learn,
don't we?
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Questions to ponder:
1. Can you think of something that
happened to you that was "just awful,"
but that turned out to be a positive experience?
2. What sort of things build most
character in us: the positive and easy,
or the difficult and sometimes negative?
3. How would you advise a friend to
look at his or her problems? Do you look at yours in the way that you would advise others
to? |
